Fateful Distractions
by Angry Santo
Summary: Any miracle, even a small one, can change destiny. But will a small miracle be enough to change one who is already resigned to his fate?
1. Chapter 1

Quick author's notes here at the top. This story is born out of me finding some notes for some really old snippets, and a good long session of bitching about Nanoha and FSN. It made me a bit nostalgic, so I pulled out the notes, blew the dust off them, and started writing this. It was a surprising amount of fun.

Warning, this fic assumes you are somewhat knowledgeable about FSN (Particularly Fate route). And Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

=][=

Emiya Shirou wondered exactly what runaway magecraft had been involved in creating the giant wasp. For that matter, how was it staying aloft? The thing had to have the mass of a horse at the very least. It had grown an enormous pair of razor-sharp pincers, but the stinger was the thing to worry about. It had stabbed a tree trunk earlier in their fight, and the venom had dissolved the tree in seconds.

That wouldn't have worried him all that much if the tree hadn't been so wide that he couldn't wrap his arms around it.

As the wasp chittered in annoyance after he dodged its latest attempt to kill him. He wondered why whoever had made it had not made it more intelligent. That surely would have been easier than making a horse-sized wasp fly, right? He'd need to ask Tohaska about that the next time he was at the Clock Tower.

Still, no matter how difficult it had been to create. An out of control familiar so close to a city was too dangerous to be left alone. As the wasp once more rushed him, he pulled back on the firing hammer in his head.

"Trace, on." with three pulls of that imaginary trigger, he activated his twenty seven circuits. Two swords appeared in his hands; one white as snow, the other black as a moonless night. The two met and came away again. The wasp chittered in pain and anger, one of its mandibles and two of its legs fell to the dirt with wet splats.

Shirou turned to keep the giant insect in his sight. His swords and clothes were stained by its clear, milky blood, but it still had fight in it. His eyes widened when he saw the wasp glow a bright blue, the mandible and legs regrew in a few seconds, and the creature was once more charging at him.

'_Well that's annoying'_ he thought as he dodged the creature's simple attacks. For all its strength and speed, it was too simple minded to pose a real threat, but its healing would prove an issue. With a grunt, he threw Kansho and Bakuya in an arch through the air, and pictured a long yellow spear in his mind's eye.

The two swords swerved, coming together after they'd been flung apart. Kansho cut through one of the wasp's wings, Bakuya smacked into it handle-first. The wasp still fell to the ground with a deafening crash and an eruption of dirt and clumps of grass. It screeched as it thrashed, the glow surrounding it once more.

As its wing reformed, the long blade of that yellow spear sept by and cut off its uninjured wing at the base, severing the regenerating wing on its return swing. The wasp thrashed, but Shirou's body jerked him roughly out of the way. The glow remained and intensified, but the wings did not heal.

Twice more Shirou darted in, each time delivering a single powerful swing, using the spear to cut instead of stab. And each time one of the wasps' massive mandibles tumbled to the ground.

The wasp began to panic. It began to thrash and run about in an attempt to trample him. But all it managed in its rage and fear was to lose three of its legs, sending it to the ground. Shirou cut off the other three as an afterthought.

Gáe Buidhe, the Golden Rose of Mortality. Any wound inflicted by it would never heal, for that wounded state was forever more the new 'healthy' state. The curse could only be lifted by the death of its owner, or the destruction of the weapon.

Which of course meant that it would last only so long as the traced weapon, but that would be far more than enough. Its neck was too thick to cut in a single swipe, still, he raised the weapon high to put the animal out of its misery. Then the spear jerked him back, a yellow bolt of energy missing him by a hand's breadth and slamming into the ground with a crackle of electricity. The memories within Gáe Buidhe allowed him to dodge the next four attacks, and he settled into a defensive stance.

A young girl was aiming a weapon at him, one glance was all it took for him to know that weapon better than he knew himself, every detail of it etching itself into his mind.

'_Bardiche huh?'_ he thought, _'and it's a very advanced mystic code…and that's one fancy familiar.'_

Standing next to the girl was a large, shaggy, bright red wolf. Baring its teeth at him in a silent snarl.

"Move away from it," said the girl softly.

The giant wasp chittered and wiggled, its clear blood leaking into the ground.

"Is this your familiar!?" he demanded loudly. "If so, you need to be more careful! This thing attacked me on sight! It could have caused a great injury to someone, let alone broken the masquerade!"

"He doesn't know?" the girl muttered, tilting her head, the twin tails on her head shifting and settling.

"Don't know what!? And who is your guardian? Why would they send someone as young as you to confront me!?" he pressed.

The familiar began to growl, a low bass rumble. The girl's lips tightened, her hands gripping her mystic code more tightly.

He spotted large shadows moving behind the girl, he reinforced his eyes, and the very next instant he was in front of the girl and her familiar, having seemingly not bothered with the intervening space. He dropped Gáe Buidhe unceremoniously to the ground so his hands could dart out and seize the girl by the scruff of the neck with one hand, and her familiar's shaggy pelt with the other. Out of the two, the familiar reacted faster, its teeth sinking into his forearm with a growl.

Shirou grit his teeth and hauled, moving them behind him with such force that their teeth rattled. The very next moment, the stingers of seven dog-sized wasps sank into his chest, agony began to burn in him an instant later, turning his bones into fire and his muscles into jelly.

He fell, girl and wolf becoming pinned by his weight. He raised his left hand and, using what little strength remained in him, traced Hrunting. He swung once with it, once was all it took. With that one swing Hrunting killed all seven wasps, one half of their bifurcated bodies tumbling off of his chest to the ground. As an afterthought, he looked at the still struggling Queen Wasp. And tossed Hrunting at it in a slow, lazy parabola.

The sword landed point-first and stabbed into its head to the hilt. The wasp stopped moving instantly.

And then it was all he could do to stay conscious. Breathing was also becoming more difficult, it vexed him that he couldn't turn his body enough to see if the girl was alright.

He felt two somethings wriggle out from beneath him, even that slight movement bringing him great agony. A slight grunt escaped him.

She was alright, unharmed except by a scrape and some dirt. She was looking at his chest, her eyes wide.

"Why?" she whispered, staring at the enormous stingers that yet pumped venom into his body.

With a monumental effort, he gently cupped her cheek in his palm. She flinched, but did not pull away. And turned to meet his eyes. Her eyes were red as rubies, red like…

"I'm glad you're alright," he said with a warm smile. He'd managed to save her in the end, that's all that mattered. Her eyes became wide as saucers, and the darkness at the edge of his vision rushed in.

His hand fell.

=][=

Fate Testarossa stared at the man. The one that she thought was there to interfere. Her thoughts a blur.

Why had he saved her? If he could move that quickly, why had he protected her and Arf instead of seizing an advantage? Why sacrifice himself for someone he'd never met, someone who attacked him?

Her cheek was warm where he'd cupped it.

But most of all…that smile. That warm, happy, kind, _relieved_ smile.

Almost as if it had not been him who saved her. But she who had saved him.

"Arf, we're taking him with us." she said dully as she stood and walked to the corpse of the giant wasp. Noting the wounds the man had inflicted, and the palpable malevolence of the devices he'd used and tossed so carelessly.

What would Mother think about this?


	2. Chapter 2

Aight. I've decided on a weekly schedule for this. Giving me time to work on new chapters and whatnot.

If you read this. Do please drop a review. Even if it is only to say you liked it (Or why you didn't). That small bit of validation is one of the things that can keep a guy going.

I'm not about to demand something asinine like a number of reviews before I post the next chapter. Fek that, chapters are going up Sturday unless stuff happens and I can't get them posted. But it's nice to know something is being enjoyed, and believe it or not, it helps a lot on my end to know that.

With that said. Time to take my old catchphrase back up!

Strategic Snippet Bomb! ^(〇Д〇)^

=][=

Emiya Shirou opened his eyes slowly. He blinked owlishly at an unfamiliar ceiling, not unusual that. He'd done that a lot in the nine or so years since the Grail War. Slowly he began the familiar process of taking stock of his injuries.

His body felt as if it were filled with lead. His head hurt. His throat was parched. And his stomach felt as if someone were currently burning something inside it. Not the worst thing to have happened to him, though not ideal nonetheless.

He sat up slowly, swallowing the agonized scream that wanted to tear its way out of his throat. Another thing he'd done a lot in the last nine years. Absently, he realized that someone had bandaged his chest and arm for him, though they'd done something of a sloppy job. Still, it's the thought that counts. He looked around, and saw that he was in a rather stylish apartment. The couch he'd been lying in overlooked Uminari, someone else might have found the view rather breathtaking.

He supposed it was the residence of whoever had sent the girl. Remembering the girl brought a smile to his face. Looking around, he guessed that whoever resided here had not been there long. The apartment was for the most part bare, there was a large pile of dog treats in a corner. A quick investigation of the fridge and cupboards revealed that there was nothing but bottled water and instant foods.

He saw Gáe Buidhe and Hruntig propped up in a corner, and hastily dispersed the weapons into glowing motes of golden light. That was thoughtless of him, he should have done that before passing out, someone could have gotten hurt moving those.

Looking around, he spied the keys to the apartment. So he guessed he was not a prisoner, maybe the giant wasp had not been someone's familiar? Or part of their research? Still, they'd brought him all the way here from the outskirts and saw to his wounds, Emiya Shirou was not one to leave a favor unreturned.

A quick search of his pockets showed he still had his wallet. So he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, picked up the keys, noted the apartment number, locked the door, and looked for the nearest open supermarket on his phone.

=][=

Fate Testarossa wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and sleep for a few days. She suppressed a quick stab of jealousy at her 'guest' who had done just that for the last couple of days. How was she supposed to figure out the puzzle he represented if he didn't wake up?

On the heels of the jealousy came a stab of shame. He'd risked his life to protect her and Arf, and from that one melted tree she saw, those mutated wasps had a nasty sting. The least she could do was let him sleep.

Arf continued to talk, her familiar's voice a welcome buzz that relaxed her. She watched as Arf unlocked the door and walked in, her growl vanished all thoughts of sleep. Fate rushed in and immediately saw the vacant couch, and the devices that she suspected were Lost Logia in the corner gone.

"Damnit Fate! He just left!? Why didn't we think of that!? I should have put a binding on him!" Arf growled.

Fate merely walked to the couch and sat down. She'd already sent Mother a report that she'd found a person of interest. What would she do once she realized Fate had lost him? Absently, she began to feel a stinging pain on her arms and legs. She put a hand on the still healing welts on her shoulder.

"We need…we need to find him Arf." she said, forcing her voice not to tremble. When you wanted to cry was precisely the time when you had to be strong. "Can you get his scent?"

"He's been here for days Fate!" Arf said with a smile, taking her wolf form. "I can track him to the ends of the world!"

Just then, the door opened, and in walked the tall man, carrying bags of what looked to be groceries of all things.

"Ah, sorry," he said with a sheepish grin. "I didn't know you were back or I would have knocked."

He proceeded to lock the door behind him, put the keys down on a table near the door, and walked humming to the kitchen.

"Hope you like fish!" he called out, a few moments later she heard the stove start.

Fate stared open mouthed at Arf, then the two of them rushed to the kitchen. Sure enough, the man was standing in front of the stove, he was wearing an apron, and cooking something.

"I…But…You…" there were many things Fate wanted to say, but they were all crowding the back of her throat.

He turned to look at her, and for the first time she really _saw _him. He was tall, at least 180 cm tall, maybe bigger. He had bright red hair, though it seemed to be going prematurely white. And his amber eyes seemed to have a few flecks of grey in them.

He turned to look at her, his eyes were kind. He put on goofily questioning expression. "Do you not like fish?"

"I…F-Fish?" she stammered.

"Yes, fish. Do you like fish?"

"I…Umm…Yes?" she asked.

"Good!" he said with a small smile. "I'll be done in a little while, so go wash up."

"I…umm…yes." Fate surprised herself by meekly going to the bathroom and washing her hands, then sitting quietly at the table.

'_Fate,' _Arf said in her mind. _'What are you doing?'_

'_I don't know?' _Fate answered honestly. _'He…I mean nobody's cooked for me since Lynith so.'_

'_Shouldn't we be questioning him?' _Arf asked.

'_Maybe?'_

Fate continued the debate with her familiar. Before she knew it, a plate with salmon, rice, broccoli, steamed carrots, and a small bowl of soup was placed in front of her. Compared to all the instant noodles and watery broth she'd been making, it smelled divine.

"Sorry for the simple fare." the man said, causing Fate to look at the assortment of food that looked like it could be served in a restaurant. "But I didn't exactly have time to prepare something more complex."

He dropped a bowl in front of Arf, it also seemed to have salmon in it. Arf smelled it for a few moments before wolfing it down. The man set down some food for himself on the table, sitting some distance from her, then lowering himself with exceeding care onto the floor.

"Are…are you alright? You were hurt." she said, wondering why she was suddenly getting rather tongue tied.

He smiled at her, he seemed to do that a lot. "I'm okay, thanks for taking care of that for me. Were you hurt when I landed on you? Speaking of which, sorry about that."

"I, no I mean I didn't…" she ran out of words, Fate felt her face heating up, so she started on the food. It tasted better than it smelled.

'_Okay,' _Arf sent. _'Maybe he's a little alright. But we shouldn't let our guard down.'_

They ate in silence, Fate ate more in that one sitting than she had in the last few days. Before she knew it he had cleaned the dishes, swept the floor, put away Arf's treats, stocked the fridge with a few ingredients for breakfast, and had swept her off to the bathroom to take a bath while he cleaned her clothes.

And she still didn't know his name.

Fate shook her head, enough was enough. It was time to find out what he knew. She once more summoned her barrier jacket and strode out of the bathroom.

"Here's some tea and snacks," he said, effortlessly sweeping her into his rhythm again.

Fate walked to the couch, the snacks were pretty tasty, they looked to be home-made.

"So," he said, sitting down across from her. "A little late, but my name is Emiya Shirou, mind if I ask you your name?"

Fate blinked and immediately tried to respond past a mouthful of cookie. She blushed, chewed and swallowed before attempting to speak again.

"My name is Fate Testarossa." she said.

"I see. So was that giant wasp your creation, guardian, or familiar?" he asked.

"I ah…no, no it wasn't."

"Do you have any idea why it got that big?" he continued.

"I ah…there's-" her throat clamped shut, Mother had said not to speak about the Lost Logia.

"I see," he said with a smile. "No need to force yourself. When is your guardian coming? I'll discuss this with them."

"I…live here, by myself." Fate said with a slight grimace.

His brows furrowed down in thought. His gaze sharpening for a moment before his eyes mellowed out again, it happened so quickly that, had Fate not known how dangerous he could be, she would have wondered if she had imagined it.

"Will you continue hunting these creatures?" he asked.

"Yes, I need to make Mo-" Fate once more clamped her mouth shut, why was she just spilling everything to him? And now he was likely to just demand he tell her everything.

Him and his big concerned eyes and warm smile and…she found herself becoming rather irritated, with no idea why.

"How can I help?" he asked, taking her completely by surprise.

"Eh?"

"How can I help?" he repeated. "It'd be bad if those things run around. And if you're putting a stop to it, then I'll help."

She wondered how much she should say. But she found herself telling him almost everything. About the Jewel Seeds, about the girl in white, about the TSAB, even a little bit about Mother. It all just spilled out of her, every time she tried to stop, those amber-grey eyes drew more out of her.

He listened until she ran out of words. Her face downcast and her eyes firmly on the floor.

She flinched when she felt a large, warm hand gently ruffle her hair.

"Don't worry kid." he said, "You've got a bonafede Ally of Justice on your side. And an Ally of Justice doesn't stop until he's saved everyone."

Fate felt her eyes begin to prickle. But she bit the inside of her cheek until it went away. She was a big girl! Big girls don't cry! Mother said so!

Even so, she couldn't help feeling reassured by the hand gently stroking her hair.


	3. Chapter 3

Aight, Ch 3 being posted. Hope you lot like it.

I asked for some more reviews and boy did I get 'em. Gotta admit, that made me rather happy. Do please keep on keeping on.

I replied to a number of them. If I didn't reply to yours, don't think I didn't read it. There's only so much time in the day and all of that.

I used to do megachapters with like, frigging 10,000+ words and stuff. I'm trying to get away from that. Methinks the story and stuff just flows better sometimes with shorter chapters. Hope peoples don't mind too much.

Also, I'm terrible at grammar. And my usual betas are all busy people. So if you see glaring grammatical mistakes...well I hope you can look past them. If you can't, I understand. I've tried to better my grasp on grammar, but it's always been an uphill battle, and it's never gone well for me.

If you like it. Do please drop me a review and lemme know. It's always nice to know the writing is appreciated. If you don't like it, drop me a review and let me know why.

Bonus points if you can figure out the call-out without googling it!

Strategic Snippet Bomb!

(O∆O)/Σ旦

=][=

"And I'm telling you. It's a terrible idea." Emiya Shirou said as he finished cooking breakfast.

"But what else could I do? Mother says she is running out of time," Fate said, absently rubbing her shoulder. "There is only six left, and I've searched everywhere else. They _have_ to be in the ocean."

"I'm not debating that," he said, stepping around Arf as she played with a dog toy. "But what you're proposing would fly in the face of the Masquerade. From what you've told me, each of these Seeds is quite powerful, can you take on six at once? And last but not least, such a reckless display of power is bound to fall under the attention of this TSAB mage, and if they're smart, they'll wait until you're exhausted, jump in, seal the Jewel Seeds, and arrest you on top of everything."

Fate's hands curled into fists, then she blinked. "Masquerade? What's that?"

"Oh right, you wouldn't know would you?" he said as he piled eggs, sausage, bacon and beans on her plate. "Native Magi are actually really secretive about magic. I'm honestly surprised they haven't heard of this debacle yet. Point is, they're pretty brutal about keeping magic a secret. They kill first and ask questions never."

He went back and dropped some sausages and bacon in Arf's bowl. She tucked in with a hearty bark.

"If they become involved," he continued, "It won't end well for anyone."

Fate frowned at the table as he prepared his own plate and sat at the table. Absently she reached for some toast and took a bite of it.

"I still need to do it," she said. "The risk of them finding the Jewel Seeds is too great."

Shirou sighed.

"Alright, then I'll go with you and see what I can do to help." he said.

"Can you fly?" she asked him.

"Nope."

"Don't worry big guy!" Arf said, taking her human form and giving him a smack in the back. "I can make a magic platform for you to stand on! Probably."

Shirou looked at the relatively tall girl with wolf ears and a tail, in the center of her forehead was the red stone that he'd first seen in Fate's familiar. She was wearing a cropped top, unbuttoned hot pants, and boots. And that was all.

He blinked, twice.

"Arf!" Fate said reproachfully.

"What?" her familiar answered with a big grin. "His food is tasty! We can trust him!"

"So…are you a girl that turns into a wolf, or a wolf that turns into a girl?" he asked slowly.

"I'm a girl-wolf!" Arf answered with a huge grin.

"I see…would you like some eggs?" he asked.

"Yes!"

=][=

"I still think this is a bad idea," Shirou muttered. He was dressed in his battle gear, a black armored shirt with silver highlights, baggy black armored pants, steel toe boots, and a red scarf he'd pulled up to his nose to cover his face.

He was currently on a shore of Uminari overlooking the sea. The day was overcast, and whatever bounded field Arf had thrown up made him itch. She'd called it a 'barrier' but Shirou wondered if it in fact had created a pocket dimension, not unlike a Reality Marble. Whatever the case, it made it so there were no civilians walking around, no need to worry about hurting innocents.

Fate and Arf (who had turned back into a wolf) were currently flying a few dozen meters over the water.

"Aleus, Curtas, Agias." Fate said as she began her incantation.

This plan was much too reckless for his liking, it was big, flashy, exhausting, and would draw this TSAB down on them pretty much immediately. Meaning they would need to take the seeds while under fire, then do a quick extraction, without any type of distraction or rearguard.

Wait…what had she said she was going to do? Flood the ocean with thunder magic? Will that damage the ecosystem? Do fish do well against massive lightning strikes?

Right as he thought that, Fate conjured a massive yellow magic circle, and began to rain a few lightning strikes into the water.

Okay that _cannot _be good for the fish.

Right as he thought _that_. Fate conjured eight enormous balls of yellow magic, aimed her staff at the ocean, and roared. A flurry of lightning strikes stabbing down into the ocean.

Definitely cannot be good for the fish.

Six lines of blue lightning stabbed out of the sea into the sky, they roiled and lashed out with tendrils of lesser lightning. Moments later, water coursed _up _them, and Fate was in the middle of six enormous cyclones that writhed like a thing alive.

Bardiche shifted position and emitted a long blade of electricity, turning into a magical scythe.

Then, for lack of a better word, Fate began to fight the cyclones.

And it wasn't a fight she was going to win.

Shirou wasn't too sure of what exactly was going on. But he was willing to bet that undoing those cyclones would finish the fight. So he reached inside himself, and imagined the one weapon that should end this.

The wooden sword that Miyamoto Musashi used in his duel against Sakaki Kojiro was not much like a sword at all. It was long, heavy, and much too broad. It was a paddle, or maybe an oar. The unusual weapon was one of the strategies Musashi used to throw Kojiro off balance. He had also arrived late to their duel, giving Kojiro time to stew in his own adrenaline, he timed his arrival so the sun would blind Kojiro, and last but not least, he had arrived with the tide, so that after he killed Kojiro, he could jump into the sea and escape his followers.

But the story had grown in the telling. Until it was that oar which summoned the tides, bending the weather itself to his bidding.

"Trace, on." he whispered, the sword that was not truly a sword settled into his grip. And he immediately began to fill it with prana. He had to be careful though, breaking the weapon would merely result in an explosion, what he needed was something far more delicate.

Unconsciously, he shifted his stance, his right foot sliding forward, his left foot sliding back. He leaned forward into the wind, hunching his shoulders. He held the sword to his left hip, bending his body over it, tightening until he was a spring under tension, quivering with unreleased violence.

The burning in his chest and stomach increased, he tasted vile in the back of his throat. The venom he'd been injected with was still taxing him. In his current state he did not have the odic reserves for what needed to be done. He'd only have one shot at this, a second shot would take too long to charge safely, and there was the possibility of a battle after to consider.

At last, the oar was ready. He opened his eyes. And saw that a girl in white and a boy in green had joined the melee, those had to be Nanoha and her familiar. Arf seemed to be attacking the other familiar, but Nanoha seemed only to be talking to Fate.

'_Too late to stop,' _Shirou thought as he felt the weapon begin to quiver in his hands. He drew on the weapon's history, synchronized with the near peerless skill of the man who had used it. The spring was released.

"Perfect beauty with no trace of artifice…Unlabored Flawlessness!" he screamed as he swung the nameless oar. Six enormous cyclones were spawned in front of him. Six cyclones spinning with hurricane force, turning in a direction opposite to the six that Fate had been battling against. The six cyclones rushed forwards, like arrows loosed from a bow, and crashed into the luminescent pillars that even now raged around Fate.

There was a great crash, a roar as twelve titans met and destroyed one another.

The wind died down, the sea stopped heaving, the air lost that charged quality, that quivering tension that warned of imminent lightning. Shirou held the rigid pose of the attack.

Six pillars of light stabbed into the heavens once more, and the six cyclones returned, twice as violent as before.

'_Well, that didn't work.'_ he thought as he made the weapon disperse into golden motes. What else could he do to stop them?

He realized the three kids and Arf were staring at him. Their eyes wide as saucers. The cyclones continued to rage, and they backed away from them. Fate at least staring at him with wide hopeful eyes.

Well, any good Ally of Justice would need to rise up to this occasion, what could he use here? Well, they were caused by a magical phenomenon. If the magic of these Jewel Seeds worked at all like prana, then they were binding the air and water. Nullify that binding, and the thing should fall apart. And as it turns out, he knew of a particular dagger that would work perfectly for this.

"I can try stabbing them!" he yelled excitedly to be heard over the howls of the wind.

The three kids and the wolf seemed to stumble in mid-air.

They rallied quickly enough, the green kid made a huge magic circle and shot green chains that wrapped around the cyclones and began pulling them away from each other.

Okay, so these people can tie masses of air moving in a spiral, with chains. Sure, why not.

Arf added her own chains to his, restricting them further. Fate and Nanoha modified their weapons, and aimed them at the cyclones. Nanoha called forth a massive pink beam at the same time that Fate called down a colossal lightning storm. Strangely enough, that lightning did not make nearly enough noise. A lightning strike of that size should have been deafening.

The cyclones flickered, then there was a massive eruption of blinding light. Shirou closed his eyes and brought his hands up to protect his face from the shockwave. When he opened them, six blue jewels were floating between Fate and Nanoha.

'_Huh, so they suppressed the thing's power, nullified the binding, and extracted the artefacts. Rule Breaker _would_ have accomplished that easily enough.'_ he thought to himself as a light rain began to drizzle, the clouds broke, and shafts of sunlight began to peek through.

Fate was staring at Nanoha with wide, surprised eyes. He wasn't sure what had passed between them, but by the look in Fate's face, it was either horrendous or auspicious.

There was a muted thunderclap, the clouds glowing a bright purple. A massive lance of purple lightning stabbed down into the ocean, dangerously close to the kids.

Instinct drove action. The bow was in his hands, he pulled it taut before he even had a shaft ready. In his right hand appeared a small golden weapon, its blade was a single fat spike, its handguard took the form of four beautifully worked claws. Its handle was short and near impossible to grasp comfortably, on the center of it was a glass sphere.

In an instant, the weapon morphed. It became aerodynamic, long enough to fit the massive bow. Its shaft flowed in a subtle helix from tip to fletching. Even then, it might not be enough. If he wanted to ensure the kids' safety, it needed to be enough. Shirou flooded it with prana, recklessly emptying his reserves into it, like pouring water into desert sand. The weapon drank his life force greedily, it drank until it could take no more, then drank more still. Luminescent cracks appeared along its length, spiky growths spawned through the helix of its form, the crystal at its center glowed like a small sun. It was ready.

"Roar! Vajra!" Shirou bellowed as he released the arrow. From reaction to execution a fleeting instant had passed. It had all been a reflex that bypassed thought. The arrow shot past the children and intercepted a massive purple lighting bolt as it began its descent, where the Noble Phantasm detonated.

There was a flash of blinding light, a forest of jagged bolts of lightning spread through the entire sky in serrated chaotic lines. A mass was moving, something was driving the clouds before it like horses forced to stampede. It reached the children.

Noise.

To describe it so simply was to call a mountain a pebble. Noise so powerful that it forced stillness, noise so monumental that the mind refused it, noise so overwhelming it left one in deafening silence. The thunderclap struck them like a physical blow, driving them back several feet. The windows of a nearby building shattered, car alarms began to blare. The rain had been completely blasted away.

Shirou fell to his knees, the bow clattered to the floor before vanishing into golden motes, only his outflung hands kept him from crashing to the ground. He hastily lowered his scarf and vomited, there was a lot of red in his breakfast.

He heard Fate scream, he looked up, wanted to tell her to concentrate on the Jewel Seeds, but when he tried, he succeeded only on spitting out more blood. He saw Arf take hold of the six seeds, then dive after Fate.

She reached him, completely uncaring of the puddle of bloody vomit. She stood back, her hands hovering over him, too afraid to touch him lest she exacerbate the injury.

"Shirou! Shirou!" she screamed on the edge of panic.

With a herculean effort, he looked up to meet her eyes. Forcing words past his throat was almost enough to make him black out.

"Go." he whispered, his voice rough, there was a gurgle when he breathed in. He smiled at her. "You have them, go. I'll slow you."

"But! Shirou!" she said, taking hold of his scarf.

"Fate! Go go go! We can't wait!" Arf said as she caught up to her master, grabbed her by the waist, and jerked her away.

"Shirou!" Fate screamed shrilly as Arf escaped with her, the scarf still clutched in her hands.

Darn it, that was his favorite scarf. To think he'd die and not even have it on him. Oh well, she could probably find some use for it. Maybe as a handkerchief. That'd be nice.

Sometime when he had been too busy not passing out to notice. Three kids hand landed in front of him. Nanoha who he saw had bright red hair and bright blue eyes, her familiar who had blonde hair and green eyes. Both of them looked young, as young as Fate.

And the third was a boy with black hair and dark blue eyes, he looked to be about twelve, maybe fourteen. He was dressed in black boots, baggy dark blue pants, and wearing a black trench coat with metal reinforcing its chest, and spikes on his shoulders, he also appeared to be wearing armored gauntlets.

Now this kid definitely dressed like a bad guy. If only he weren't a kid, he'd definitely be one that an Ally of Justice would be proud to stand against.

Shirou would say as much, but he was certain that he was too busy dying. Maybe.

The boy aimed his mystic code at Shirou.

'_S2U and Raising Heart huh?' _he thought, _'more advanced Mystic Codes.'_

"You do not appear to be hostile." said the kid in black.

Shirou grinned. He would try something, but he was pretty sure any sudden movements would lead to an embarrassment at best.

A green magic circle appeared behind the kids, through it, Shirou could see a handsome woman with bright green hair and olive green eyes. She appeared to be wearing a military uniform of some kind.

"Chrono, well done." she said with a smile.

Chrono grimaced. "I'm sorry, they got away with the Jewel Seeds."

The woman shrugged her shoulders and gave him a kind smile.

"It's alright." she said, "You know, I'd like to hear this man's story. Would you be so kind as to bring him aboard the Arthra?"

"Roger that, we'll return immediately." he answered, and the green circle disappeared.

The kid turned to look at him, and hefted his staff.

"We will be transporting you now. If you try anything…" he said, trailing off ominously and slapping the staff against the palm of his hand a few times.

Shirou wondered if there was anything he could do to run away, and his body took that moment to remind him when enough was enough, and wracked him with agony. He didn't allow more than a grunt to escape his lips however.

"Ferret," Chrono said, causing the kid in green to start.

"I told you my name is Yuuno!" he said, then did a few rather unique hand signs. A large green magic circle appeared beneath all of them, and the next instant, the surroundings blurred and flickered.


	4. Chapter 4

'Nother Saturday 'nother upload.

Been a tad busy with stuff. Haven't had as much time to write. Hoping that gets better. The thing at Kyoto Animation happened, that sucks, a lot. Feeling down about that. But what can a guy do eh?

Anyways. Here's this chapter. Hope you lot like it. If you like it (or don't) please drop me a review. It can be one of them things that keeps a guy goin' ya kno?

Or don't. I'm not the boss of you. But the review, even something as simple as "I like it keep it up!" can be pretty great. So plz plz plz.

Nobody got the shout out on the last chapter. Buuu. ;_;

Anyways. Here's the chapter. Hope you lot like it. Again. Forgive the grammar, I'm not good at grammar.

Strategic Snippet Bomb! ( ꒪Д꒪)ノΣ旦

=][=

Shirou could not help but think that their teleportation room was just unnecessarily large. You could fit a battalion in here. Unless of course, they teleported battalions relatively often, in which case…

He blinked and realized his mind was wandering, that's not a good sign. He refocused on his surroundings and saw that there was a group of five adults wearing uniforms not unlike Chrono's but blue instead of black, and without spikes. Shame that.

They were aiming staffs at him. From one glance he could see they were like the mystic codes he'd been encountering, but not as powerful. Mass produced arms where up to now he'd seen artisan work.

He blinked and realized they had been talking to him. He cleared his throat, the simple action felt as if he were swallowing bits of broken glass.

"Sorry," he said, focusing on the one that had talked at him. "I didn't catch that."

"I said to remove your barrier jacket." he demanded sternly. "Now."

Shirou furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Are…you asking me to get naked?" he asked slowly. Not the most unusual demand that had ever been made of him, but if they insisted on a cavity search, he'd have to start resisting.

The one that had made the demand flushed.

"Idiot," said a slightly older man, "It's an unadministered world, they don't _have_ barrier jackets."

He turned to look at Shirou. "Can you stand?"

Shirou smiled. "Not to sound overly dramatic. But I'm pretty sure I'm dying."

And he finally lost his bitter battle against unconsciousness.

=][=

Fate sat in the couch, staring at the floor, holding Shirou's scarf in her hands. Already the room seemed…bigger, too much bigger, and colder. She felt her eyes prickling again, and again she bit the inside of her cheek until it went away.

She was being foolish, he said he'd help her, and he had…but to think he could create such a blast. Enough to completely overwhelm the lightning shot Mother had conjured. The strangest thing was, Bardiche had not detected any magic, she'd gone over his data three times. Shirou had not once used a magic circle, and the lightning he produced seemed to be completely natural lightning rather than a magical effect.

She remembered his smile. That infuriatingly warm, happy, kind, and above all else _relieved_ smile. A smile he gave her while bleeding after he got hurt for helping her.

And now he had been captured…or died.

And Mother had said she wanted him brought to her…she bit the inside of her cheek again.

She shook her head. Now was not the time to mope, with Shirou's help, she had managed a great victory. She'd captured the last six remaining Jewel Seeds in one fell swoop. She absently hugged the scarf to her chest, jumped to her feet, and went to the fridge for a water bottle. And gasped when she saw two large lunch boxes with labels written on them, in three different languages. It took her a while to puzzle out they said 'lunch' and 'dinner.'

This time, the tears came no matter how hard she bit her cheek.

=][=

Emiya Shirou opened his eyes slowly. He blinked owlishly at an unfamiliar ceiling, not unusual that. He'd done that a lot in the nine or so years since the Grail War. Slowly he began the familiar process of taking stock of his injuries.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that, other than feeling a little sore just about everywhere, his body was without the pain he expected. He looked around, and saw that he was lying down on what looked like a sci-fi medical bed prop, surrounded by a soft white light. The bed beeped continuously.

Now that he thought about it, the ceiling, walls, and floor all seemed to be made of metal. He saw his clothes in a neat pile next to the bed. He reviewed the latest memories he could recall, and realized he had been captured, probably by the TSAB.

Still…this beat waking up in the deepest darkest cell that stunk of urine and still had the not-fully-decomposed body of the last occupant taking up the only bed. He carefully looked around.

A brunette in a lab coat sat at a desk, staring at a laptop. There did not appear to be anyone else in the room with her. Now, what to do?

By the feeling of the white light, it was some sort of bounded field, one to keep him contained. What to do about that? Break through it and proceed to tear his way out of the facility?

Well they had gone through the trouble of healing his injuries, so it seemed a little ungrateful to just go on a rampage without adequate provocation.

He sat up, and realized with some surprise that he did not feel nearly as much pain as he had expected.

The woman jerked and turned to look at him, her eyes wide.

"You can't possibly…" she shook her head, and started again. "Please don't move. You have internal bleeding, among other things. We need to make absolutely sure you're stable before you can move."

Shirou tilted his head as if listening, and tested range of motion by stretching his chest.

"No, I'm good. I can tell." he said, then stood up and began to get dressed. The bed began to emit a shrill beeping sound the moment he left it.

"Sir please! Return to the bed!" the doctor(?) said as Shirou finished with his pants and began to tuck in his shirt.

"No really," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the bed. "I'm good."

The door opened, and in walked the five men he remembered talking to when he'd first arrived on the…whatever this place was.

They marched in and aimed their staffs at him.

Shirou looked up from tying his boots, and pointed at the bed.

"For the record, I haven't actually broken anything, all I did was get up."

=][=

Fate hung, suspended by her wrists by magical chains. As the whip struck her with a crack, Fate released a pained moan, and felt immensely relieved she'd left the scarf with Arf. Her barrier jacket was usually reduced to little more than tatters by the time Mother stopped, she didn't want the scarf to meet the same fate.

Precia paused, breathing as hard as if she'd sprinted a mile.

"Why do you make me do this Fate?" she demanded between pants. "Do you enjoy making your mother sad?"

"I'm sorry," Fate whispered. Precia's whip silenced her. Fate bit down on the scream that wanted to tear its way out of her throat. A good girl took her punishment silently.

"That man, destroyed, a Lost Logia. He threw it away like it was so much trash. Just to disperse a mere Lightning Shot." the whip cracked as it struck her.

"I told you to bring him to me." crack!

"That it was imperative I speak to him." crack!

"And you left him. To be captured. By the TSAB!" Precia punctuated every pause with a whip crack.

Fate hurt, her arms, stomach and legs felt like they were criss crossed by lines of fire.

"You did well to bring the last six Jewel Seeds Fate." she readied another strike and paused. "You did well, but I still need at least two more. Only then can your mother do her work safely."

Precia began to coil the whip, and snapped her fingers to let Fate fall to the floor. "You need to work harder Fate, if you'd like to make up for your failures; bring me more Jewel Seeds."

"But Mother, the mages they-" Fate whispered as she pushed herself painfully to her knees.

"Are you questioning me Fate?" Precia asked in a whisper, and Fate froze. Mother was never more dangerous than when she whispered. Fate hunched her shoulders and screwed her eyes shut.

Precia's heels clicked on the floor as she walked closer to Fate. "I asked you a question Fate."

"No Mother, it was…an accident." Fate answered tremulously

"Good girl," she turned her back on Fate and walked away. "You need to bring me at least two more Jewel Seeds, preferably more."

"Yes Mother." she answered, pushing herself to her feet and stumbling out of Mother's audience chamber.

As soon as she was outside, Arf rushed to her, enveloping her in a warm embrace, crying into her shoulder. When you want to cry is when you must be at your strongest. Fate took back the scarf and hugged it to her chest, as she did her best to be strong for Arf.

=][=

Shirou had to admit, aside from the irate doctor, this had so far been the most comfortable 'captured by a (possibly) hostile force' situation he could remember having.

They had so far been downright polite.

He was currently being escorted by the kid with the spiky coat and the fire team he recalled meeting before passing out. Apparently on his way to meeting the ship's captain. And yeah, he was on a space ship. A magical space ship. In space.

Well apparently they were in 'the dimensional sea' but he was going to call it space.

The halls were strangely underlit, most of the illumination coming from the floor. Some of the hallways looked…needlessly crooked. Then again, magic space ship.

The fire team escorting him was composed of five men, ages from young to middle aged, grim faced and walking in lockstep. Their mystic codes ready to be brought to use.

He looked around, rather surprised they hadn't insisted on handcuffs or some such. Unless these guys had a spell ready to cast to immobilize him? That seemed likely.

Shirou looked down at the kid, Chrono, who was doing his best to be as grim as the rest of the fire team.

"So, Chrono was it? Why do you have spikes on your coat?" he asked out of the blue.

Chrono stumbled.

"B-Because! They aid in intimidation and can be used offensively!" he tried to grind out, but being red to his ears completely spoiled the attempt.

By the fire team's expressions, they were heading straight into the jaws of hell. Their faces determinedly grim.

"I mean," Shirou said slowly. "Spikes are cool."

"They're not decoration!" Chrono shrieked, then rounded on the squad-man that coughed.

Beads of sweat began to appear in the faces of the five grim men.

Shirou decided to give the kid a break, and remained silent through the rest of the trip. Though he had meant every word of what he'd said.

Spikes _are_ cool.

They led him to a pair of doors that slid away from each other, with what he was sure was an entirely gratuitous mechanical swishing noise.

"Captain!" Chrono said, snapping to attention. "I have brought the guest!"

There were several things Shirou had been expecting; a cell, a bare interrogation room, perhaps even an isolation cell. A dissection table had been one of his least favorite options.

A small bonsai garden, with overhead lighting that perfectly imitated soft daylight and the sound of gently chittering birds; was not one of the things he had considered. There was even a Shinshi-Odoshi on the side.

The stark white metal of the walls made an…interesting contrast with the ambience the little garden tried to impose. On the other side of the room, there was a none-too-small wooden platform with genuine tatami mats, and a red carpet on top of them. Along with what looked to be a ceremonial tea set.

The green-haired woman he remembered seeing on that…magic circle call? Was seated on that platform in seiza, smiling widely at him.

"Good afternoon!" she said chirpily. "Please! Come here, relax!"

Shirou blinked, twice.

_Really_ not what he had been expecting.

He walked forward, Chrono's flush finally dying down, the kid becoming more watchful of Shirou's movements. The fire team stayed at the door, but they did not leave. He stopped by the edge of the platform, took off his boots, and crawled onto the mats. He sat cross-legged though, and hoped she wouldn't take it for an insult. After not having had to sit in seiza for some seven years, he could not longer be comfortable in that position.

That and his insides still felt rather tender. There was a rather awkward silence as the woman prepared and served tea, and set a cup to cool in front of him.

"My name is Lindy Harlaown, I see you've already met my son, Enforcer Chrono Harlaown. It is an honor to meet you." she said with the same chirpy tone.

"Good day, my name is Emiya Shirou." he said, noting Chrono staring at him unblinkingly.

"I am very glad you're awake," Lindy said with a wide smile. "My doctor said you would not wake for at least a week, if you woke at all."

Shirou frowned. "How long was I out?"

"Oh…two days?"

Good, not a lot of time lost then.

"So, would you mind telling me what you know of the situation around the artefacts that are being fought over?" Lindy asked.

Shirou looked from her, to Chrono, and back to her.

"Forgive me for saying this but, I am not sure how far I can trust you." he answered earnestly.

Chrono 'tsk'ed and tensed, but Lindy merely put on a politely confused expression. "May I ask why that is?"

"In my previous experience," he answered earnestly. "Organizations that make use of child soldiers are not the most trustworthy. But at the same time, you seem to have a great many resources and no particular lack of personnel. Why are children fighting your battles for you?"

He could hear shifting of feet behind him, it would seem that he had touched a nerve.

Lindy sighed. "You are correct of course."

Shirou blinked, he really had not expected such an easy admission.

"But you see, there _are_ extenuating circumstances. The average power of a Mid Childan mage falls on the D-rank, most of the soldiers in the Arthra are C-rank mages. Yet the two young ladies who are in conflict are both AAA in power, and the power of the creatures created by the Lost Logia have ranged from A to AA.

"Aside from me, Chrono is the only other A-rank mage in the Arthra, and of the two of us, he is quite a bit stronger than I am." she said the last with no small amount of pride, Chrono blushed to his ears again, but his unblinking stare did not waver. Shirou raised his estimation of Chrono up a few ticks.

"We do everything in our power to make those missions as safe as possible. He has the support of the Arthra, free access to all of our best equipment, and as much intel as we can gather. I am somewhat ashamed to admit, he _is_ the best option we have to combat the threat currently facing your world."

"Hmm…I see, thank you for clarifying that." Shirou said with a nod, he revised his opinion of this organization. It seemed that they weren't exactly 'evil' or even the bad guys, it just so happens that Fate seemed to be caught up in a situation where she was working against their interests.

"Do you know what a Lost Logia is?" Lindy asked politely.

Shirou nodded. "I got the basics from Fate."

Lindy nodded. "Then, would you be willing to answer my questions?"

Shirou nodded.

"What do you know of the situation? How is it that you became involved?"

Shirou shrugged. "I killed a very big, very violent wasp that attacked me while I was jogging at the edge of Uminari. After she showed up, I offered Fate to help her secure the Jewel Seeds so they wouldn't endanger anyone else."

Lindy waited for more. Shirou picked up the tea and gave it a tentative sip, it was actually quite tasty, though still a little too warm.

"That's it?" Lindy asked.

Shirou blinked at her. "Yes."

"A…different question then. Two days ago, during that conflict where the six Jewel Seeds were taken. You created six cyclones that momentarily pacified the Jewel Seeds, and later protected those children from a Lightning Shot that damaged the Arthras." Lindy inclined her head. "For that you have my thanks, but we did not see a magic circle, nor could we detect a spell being cast. How did you do it?"

"Uhh…" Shirou said, wondering how much to say. Would telling her mean he broke the secrecy of magecraft? They were in a _magic space ship,_ so probably not. "I used an artefact from a lost age that held a one-use lighting strike from a god. Then I overcharged it and fired it to intercept the purple lightning strike."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

"You, destroyed a Lost Logia. To protect those kids?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Noble Phantasm." he corrected.

She frowned thoughtfully for a moment, then she nodded. "Why did you collapse afterwards? According to my doctor, you had some serious internal bleeding and a few organ ruptures."

Shirou blinked in surprise, before scolding himself. Of course she knew, she was the captain, it made perfect sense that her ship's doctor would submit a report.

"It takes a lot of prana to overcharge a Noble Phantasm." he answered with a shrug. "And I was still hurt from the fight against the wasps. The rest…well, it beats an aneurism I guess."

"An aneu…I see. Were you aware that using so much…prana, would cause you to collapse?" Lindy asked, her face showing her astonishment for no longer than an instant. Shirou decided she was more dangerous than he'd initially thought.

"Not particularly, though knowing wouldn't have changed anything." he said with a shrug. "The safety of those kids was at stake."

Lindy studied him in silence for a long time.

"Why are you helping that girl take the Jewel Seeds?" she asked softly.

Shirou shrugged again. "I saw a half-starved, sad, abused kid who needed help. Why _wouldn't_ I help her?"

"Abused?" she asked after another lengthy silence.

He gave her a long level look. "I woke up in a nearly empty, barely lived in apartment. It was clean only because nobody stayed there long. There was no fresh food, no changes of clothing. And not a single sign of someone ever being present to take care of a child and her dog. Not to mention, she seemed unfamiliar with the idea of a home-cooked meal, and she looked ready to run at the slightest provocation. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer Miss Harlaown, but I have seen those things before."

Lindy squeezed her hands together tightly, though her expression did not change. "And if I were to set you free right now? Whose side are you on?"

"I'm on Fate's side." he said with a shrug. "That these Jewel Seeds are dangerous I have no doubt. That whoever is driving Fate to get them must be stopped is obvious. But this does not change the fact that that girl is stuck between a sword and a wall, and she needs someone whose main interest is to see to her safety. Well, I've selfishly decided that someone is me."

"I see," she said. "Let me reassure you, I do not see that girl as an instigator. Rather, it is my belief she is being forced to hunt for the Jewel Seeds. The TSAB's goal is to seal the Lost Logia before it can cause significant damage, and if possible, protect any innocent who has been swept up by this deplorable situation.

"Would you be willing to help us resolve this situation peacefully?"

"C-C-Captain! Are we really going to trust an outsider allied with the criminal!?" Chrono's voice cracked as he spoke.

Lindy smiled down at her son. "Think about it Chrono. He has built a rapport with Fate. With his help, we actually stand a chance to at least get her to talk to us. And through that dialogue, resolve this without further conflict."

Shirou hesitated. Maybe this TSAB wasn't so bad after all.

Lindy leaned forward and…poured three spoonfuls of sugar and some milk into her green tea, mixed it, then brought it up to her lips and took a sip.

Shirou's eye twitched.

'_She _is_ evil.' _scratch that, they would require careful watching.

"Please, take your time, you don't have to give me your answer now." Lindy said with a smile.

He frowned. "Would it be possible for me to talk to Nanoha and Yuuno?"


	5. Chapter 5

'Nother Saturday 'nother chaptah.

Had a pretty busy week. Couldn't get much writing done. But did what I could ya kno?

Hope you lot like the chapter, I had fun writing it.

Changed the category of the story to drama/humor. Cause someone pointed out that humor does make up at least a third of the story. And that's a valid point.

We're just past the first big change to original Nanoha canon, and getting closer to a more significant alteration. It was a lot of fun to think of how the addition of another character would mess with the different factions pushing against each other in Nanoha.

Played in a huge WH40k Apocalypse game. It took six hours. My Shadowsword survived the first turn. Literally the first time that has happened. I rather really enjoy the new Apocalypse rules, though some of the more competitive players were cursing up a storm because it wasn't regular 40k. But eh, it's fun.

Relatively good times all around. Ish.

As always. Please drop me a review, seeing reviews is a great motivator, gives a guy that good kick to keep 'em writing. So if you liked it. Drop me a review and lemme know! You might even deign to tell me why. If you didn't like it, drop me a review and lemme know why.

As always, if you see good grammar in here, assume it to be a fluke.

Strategic Snippet Bomb! (ノ￣Д￣)ノ ~ Σ旦

=][=

"Why do I have to escort you to Nanoha's café?" Chrono asked sullenly. He walked hunched forward with his hands as deep in his pockets as they would go. Dressed as he was in a sweater, dress shirt, and khaki pants, he looked like a scaled-down adult down on his luck.

"Weren't you the one that said I was the ally of a criminal who couldn't be trusted?" Shirou asked, looking around with interest. He really hadn't had a lot of time to actually _look_ at Uminari. "I would think you would not want to let me out of your sight."

"If you try anything!" Chrono growled, though the effect was rather spoiled by his voice cracking.

"Hey kid, calm down. I told you already. We're tangentially on the same side…kind of." Shirou said.

"Don't call me kid!"

"Okay okay."

Shirou caught a few mutters that he needed to discipline his kid better. He only hoped Chrono hadn't caught them.

"Well, we're here." Chrono said sullenly. Standing in front of a café that was the quintessential image of 'family owned and operated.'

Shirou rather enjoyed coming to these, they were great places to steal recipes from.

His thoughts turned back to what he'd begun to call the cyclone incident. Lindy had said that the lightning that threatened the kids had damaged her ship, and she had been more than willing to show him blown out machinery and hallways blackened by a shipboard fire. That meant that the attack had either been an accident caused by a freak reaction caused by the Mid-Childan way of magecraft.

Or the attack had come from whoever was pushing Fate into tracking the Jewel Seeds. An attack that put Fate in danger but also served to scatter the competition, clearing the way for them to be picked up without interference. That sounded typical of the magi he was familiar with. He could understand the logic behind sending Fate to gather the Seeds, from what Lindy had said, Fate could easily overpower most of the crew of the Arthras, herself included. But to be so callous as to call down a lightning strike right next to, or even on top of the kid…

"Hey! Don't just stand there! We're here!" Chrono snapped.

Shirou refocused on his surroundings. And followed Chrono in.

It was a quaint little place. Softly lit by the sunlight filtering in through the windows, it had hardwood flooring, not too ostentatiously decorated. Though it was a little on the pink side for his tastes.

"Good day! Table for two?" asked a pretty girl with long brown hair in a braid and dark green eyes, large spectacles fit her face well. She was wearing a white shirt and a black apron with the café's name on it.

"Yes please," Shirou answered with a smile. "And is Nanoha around? My friend Chrono here was really looking forward to saying hi to her."

"Whah!?" Chrono croaked, the blush on his face best described as 'nuclear.' "I-! You-! But-! I don't-!"

It seemed that even an arrow fired blindly finds a bullseye every now and then.

Her kind, amused smile made his blush even hotter.

"I'll be sure to tell her Chrono is here to see her." she said, then led them to a table. "While you wait, please have a look at the menu."

Shirou thanked her and began to flip through the menu. There did appear to be a good number of things here, Rin would probably like to come here. He'd have to write her a letter. How she could manage to be bad enough at computers to blow up a laptop while trying to check her email, was absolutely beyond him.

"What are you playing at!?" Chrono whisper-yelled with great vehemence in his voice.

Shirou looked up from the menu with a questioning grunt.

"You-! You told her I-! But I don't-!" there appeared to be a great many things Chrono wanted to tell him, but every time he started, they all seemed to catch in the back of his throat.

"Relax kid," Shirou said with a chuckle and continued browsing the menu. "How do you think she would have reacted if some random old man came up to her, and told her he wanted to speak to her nine year old sister?"

"But you still implied that I-! That I-!" Chrono's voice broke again.

"It was necessary for the mission." Shirou said sagely. "A sacrifice I am sure you are more than willing to make."

'_Bloodlust!?'_ Shirou tensed and looked furtively around, ignoring Chrono's continued berating. And spotted a man slightly above average in height, though the cut of his clothes hid it well, he was bulky in a way that spoke of muscle, and he moved with the grace of someone who knew how to fight. If a glare could kill, Chrono would have been atomized.

Next to him was a young girl, of average height for her age, with bright red hair tied into two tails that jutted out of the sides of her head, she wasn't dressed in white but by Chrono's reaction when he saw her, that had to be Nanoha. She was carrying a tray with a pair of glasses of water.

The two spotted Shirou at the same time, with two very different reactions. Nanoha jumped, her mouth falling open into a perfect 'o', she lost track of the tray she was carrying, almost dropped it, then fumbled around until she gained control of it again. She tilted her head and stuck her tongue out with a smile. Causing Chrono to get so red that steam started to whistle out of his ears.

The man's face turned white as a sheet the moment his eyes landed on Shirou. He had brown hair and eyes, and he stalked with Nanoha to their table, not taking his eyes off Shirou.

"Hi Chrono!" Nanoha said happily as she put the tray on the table, causing Chrono to blush to his ears yet again.

"Hi, Nanoha." he answered stiffly, not looking her in the eye.

"Nanoha," the man said. "why don't you take Chrono and show him around? And tell Kyoya to come by."

Nanoha looked up at him surprised, then smiled. "Okay dad!"

Chrono emitted a shrill despairing wail as Nanoha took him by the wrist and pulled him with her to the back of the café.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" the man asked slowly.

Shirou's hands curled around the grips of swords that weren't there yet. "Be my guest."

He lowered himself slowly to the seat, as if expecting Shirou to try to stab him at any moment. Then gave him a long hard stare before talking.

"Do you remember me?" he asked slowly.

Shirou grimaced, well this was embarrassing. He did not recall ever seeing the man in his life.

"I am sorry to say, that no I do not." Shirou said slowly.

The man grunted. "The name is Takamachi Shiro. You saved my life."

Shirou blinked, he'd never before run into someone he'd saved after the fact. He wasn't entirely sure what protocol to follow.

"Oh, I see." he said, kicking himself because that was likely not it.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Your name is Emiya Shirou, yes?" Shiro asked.

Shirou nodded.

"Any connection to Emiya Kiritsugu?" he asked.

"Uhh…yeah, he was my father." Shirou said slowly.

"I see." Shiro said frowning.

There was another silence.

Shiro leaned back and covered his eyes with a wry laugh. "You know. I must have pictured this moment a thousand times. Gone over what I would say to you, how I would say it, imagining how you might answer or react. But my head is completely blank."

Shirou forced a shaky laugh.

"So…well, might as well get the big one out of the way," Shiro said, then inclined his head to Shirou. "Thank you for saving my life."

Shirou smiled. "No, please. It was…I mean…Umm…you are welcome?"

"Normally I'd tell my wife, make a big deal, serve you a feast worthy of a hero and make a big beldam while asking you to tell heroic stories of your exploits." Shiro said, causing Shirou's heart to constrict in abject mortification. "But if that is to happen, it will have to wait. What does the infamous Emiya Shirou want with my daughter?"

Shirou blinked and scratched the back of his head. "Uhh…infamous?"

Shiro lifted one eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" Shirou asked.

"About the bounty on your head." Shiro answered.

Shirou opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it, opened it a third time, then closed his mouth with a 'click.'

"Come again?" he asked, sure that he had somehow heard wrong.

"You really aren't aware?" Shiro asked.

"I…no, no I wasn't." Shirou answered hoarsely.

Shiro grunted. "A very large sum, it also says you are to be considered armed at all times and extremely dangerous. Though the final line in the bounty says not to act on the bounty."

Shirou felt that his head was spinning, why would the Clock Tower place a bounty on his head? And why would they add a line not to act on it? Could they have learned? No if they knew it wouldn't be a bounty, it'd be a Sealing Designation.

He didn't fancy encountering an Enforcer on anything other than a sparring match.

"I often wondered what you did to get a bounty on your head, and a big one at that." Shiro said slowly, very deliberately not asking a question.

Shirou shrugged. "If I were to hazard a guess, I saved someone they didn't want saved."

Takamachi Shiro stared at him for a long time. "So you really _are_ The Swordsman? He who strides into the jaws of whatever hell there is nearest to him, and pulls innocent and guilty alike out of it. Then walks away before the dust settles?"

The Swordsman? What kind of crazy…Shirou shook his head. "All I ever do is try to save people. That's it."

Shiro frowned into one of the glasses of water. "What do you want with my daughter?"

Shirou wondered if this man knew about magecraft, his daughter _was_ a magical girl, but decided not to risk it. "I'm trying to save an abused kid, it's been brought to my attention that your daughter might know something that can help."

Takamachi Shiro stared long and hard at the man who saved his life, took him to a hospital, then simply walked away.

"Alright," he said. "I'll send her your way later."

"Hey dad, Nanoha said you needed me?" asked a younger version of Takamachi Shiro, walking up to their table.

Shiro grinned widely as he stood up. "Yes Kyoya, give him whatever he asks for. My treat!"

Shirou choked. "I can't not pay!"

Takamachi Shiro grinned widely. "Nonsense! Heroes don't pay at Midoriya!"

Kyoya looked confused, and asked his father what was going on.

Emiya Shirou shook his head and looked imploringly at Takamachi Shiro. The ex-bodyguard turned baker gave him the biggest grin.

The monster.

=][=

Fate woke slowly from a very nice dream, from back when Mother still smiled. She idly wondered why Mother had gotten her name wrong, but that wasn't worth fretting over.

She sat up on the couch, and looked at the bowl of instant noodles, her hands were quick to find the red scarf. She hadn't been very hungry in the last couple of days. She'd been trying to think of a way to get more Jewel Seeds now that they had all been found, but so far she had come up empty.

Short of a head-on assault on their headquarters, wherever that was.

A head-on assault could work, it was a bold plan, and fortune favors the bold. And if she made a head-on assault of their headquarters, then she could find the brig. Once she got Shirou out of the brig, he should be able to help her secure the rest of the Jewel Seeds, and then she could take him to Mother. And Mother would be happy, and she would finally-

"Fate," Arf said, breaking into her train of thought. "You need to eat. If you don't eat you won't regain your strength."

Fate clutched the scarf tighter to her chest. The feeling of the soft fabric against her palms soothing.

"I ate a little Arf," she lied. "I'm fine. I'm not that hungry."

"But Fate," Arf said. "Please, you haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

She looked at the bowl. "I know! You don't like the food right!? I'll get something from the fridge!"

Arf jumped to her feet and ran to the kitchen. Though what she hoped to find Fate didn't know, there was nothing on the fridge other than bottl-wait.

"Fate look!" Arf said, her tail wagging vigorously. "There's a lunchbox here! An-!"

"You put that back!" Fate shrieked.

Arf jumped, then whined and curled up. "Fate? I'm so-"

"Put it back right now!" Fate screamed, banging her shin against the low table by the couch. It was only then that she realized she had stood up, her hands holding the scarf in a white-knuckled grip.

Fate blinked and looked back at Arf. She was trembling, her eyes dewy. Fate swallowed.

"I'm sorry Arf, please just put that back in the fridge. I don't want to eat it." she said in a more mild tone, too ashamed to look at her familiar.

"R-Right." Arf said, complying, then staring at the floor, ears wilted and tail limp.

There was a long silence. Fate sat back down on the couch.

"I know!" Arf said with forced cheer. "I'll go get you something tasty! It should be safe enough!"

"Arf! Wait!" Fate said, but Arf was already out the door. She sat back on the couch. And wondered why she'd gotten so angry with Arf. Her familiar had only been trying to help.

It would all be fine. When Arf got back, she'd ask her forgiveness. And then they could put their heads together to figure out how to assault the TSAB headquarters and get Shirou back.

And more Jewel Seeds.

She would make Mother proud.

=][=

It was hours later that, exhausted, stuffed to the gills, and emotionally numb. Shirou was finally able to leave the Takamachi's hospitality. Chrono, the coward, had abandoned him less than an hour in.

Being treated as some kind of famous person was both exhausting and mortifying. Shirou silently vowed never again to meet someone after he saved them.

He idly wondered if the Arthra was monitoring him. He'd chanced to spot some of the images that they'd captured of the cyclone incident, and those had been so detailed that he was all but certain that they could monitor him if they wanted to. Which meant going back to Fate's apartment might lead them to her, and while Lindy hadn't struck him as the type for that level of subterfuge, it wasn't a chance he was certain he should take.

Idly, he noted that his feet had taken him to a park. Not as dark and foreboding as the one that he'd grown up with in Fuyuki, but with night coming on…

He should probably find somewhere to stop for the night, he needed some time to think about how to get Fate clear of the mess she was in.

"Excuuuuse me! Mr. Shirou!" called Nanoha's voice from above him.

Shirou looked up just in time to see Nanoha float down gently in front of him with a beat of glowing pink wings on her ankles, her familiar perched on her shoulder.

"Good evening Nanoha." Shirou said calmly. "Are your parents aware you're out this late?"

"Eh?" she stumbled, nearly dislodging the ferret. She blushed to her ears, hid her Mystic Code behind her back, and began to shuffle her foot, digging a small hole with the toe of her shoe. "Well, about that, you see. The thing about that is…"

"So they don't." Shirou stated.

"Please don't tell?" Nanoha asked with the biggest puppy dog eyes Shirou had seen in years.

"It shouldn't be me they hear it from." Shirou said gently. "Just think of how they would react if they check on you at night, and you're not there."

Nanoha stared at the ground, before looking up to meet his eyes with a decided lack of her earlier meekness. "But if I tell them, they'll try to stop me. Or try to be involved, and this is something only I can do. So no Mr. Shirou, I won't tell them."

Shirou gave her a long look, but ultimately shrugged. "You're a Magical Girl, sleepless nights spent in secret defense of the populous are a staple of your duties."

Let he who hath never participated in a free for all secret magical deathmatch before he was an adult, cast the first stone.

Not to mention, Nanoha had Lindy and an entire magical space ship keeping an eye on her.

"Eh?" it would seem Nanoha had not expected him to give in all that easily.

Shirou took a knee so their eyes would be at roughly the same height. "I take it you came to talk to me about something?"

"Ah yes! I mean, how do you know Fate?" Nanoha asked.

Shirou shrugged. "I killed a big wasp, offered to help her with the Jewel Seeds, and cooked her dinner and breakfast."

"Eh? Really?" Nanoha asked.

"Yes." Shirou said with a nod.

"And…is she well? Do you know why she looks so sad?" she asked.

Shirou thought long on the answer to that question. "I think…I think she's in a very bad situation, and she needs help to get out of it. But I'm sure that between us, we'll figure it out!"

Nanoha smiled and gave him a firm nod.

"So, what do you think about Miss Harlaown?" Shirou asked.

"Miss Lindy?" Nanoha blinked in surprise, then frowned at the ground and spoke slowly. "I think she's good. She can be mean, but I think she's trying to do what's best."

"Excuse me," the ferret said, surprising Shirou. Alf had taken a human form in order to speak. "But if I might, I'd like to ask you a question."

"Uhh, sure." Shirou answered.

"In that incident two days ago. How did you stop the Lightning Shot that was targeted on us? It was a lightning-effect spell, but that's all I've managed to puzzle out." he asked with a nod.

"Oh that, I threw Vajra at it." Shirou answered off handedly.

"Vajra? Is that a spell?" Yuuno asked. "What mana conversion matrix does it use? It seemed to actually generate natural lighting, which is something I haven't seen or heard of before. What branch of the Breaker Principle does it use?"

Shirou scratched the back of his head awkwardly, while the ferret began to use even more esoteric terminology and some _seriously_ advanced math. The worst thing was, Nanoha was listening intently and nodding along as he spoke, seeming like she understood some or most of what her familiar was saying.

What do they teach nine year olds in school these days!?

After a minute or so, the ferret seemed to catch on to the fact that Shirou was, to put it gently. Completely lost.

"So," Yuuno said slowly. "I take it those are not the equations you used?"

"Well, to be precise," Shirou said with a grimace. "Vajra is a manifestation of the authority of the Hindu god of lightning. It carried within it one lightning strike from Indra himself."

"But…Mister Shirou," Nanoha interrupted. "What does that have to do with the formula?"

"Well," he answered. "There isn't one. Vajra is Vajra…well, it kinda was Vajra. I overloaded it so it would explode on contact just in case the lightning wasn't enough."

No real need to explain to them he could just make another one on demand. Vajra was just different enough from a sword that the Prana cost of tracing it was quite significant.

"Wait," Yuuno interrupted as Nanoha opened her mouth. "This Vajra was not a spell, rather it was an artefact said to belong to a god?"

Shirou nodded.

"It was hundreds if not thousands of years old. It would basically be one-of-a-kind." he continued.

Shirou nodded.

"And you threw it at a Lightning Shot in the _hopes_ of dispersing it?" he asked.

Shirou nodded.

The ferret's tiny mouth fell open, and stayed that way.

"Then, Mister Shirou," Nanoha said while her familiar's brain rebooted. "What spell did you use to make those tornadoes? The ones you used first?"

"Ah, that was the paddle-sword used by Miyamoto Musa-"

"Excuse me!" Nanoha interrupted excitedly.

Shirou blinked at her.

"The paddle you used yesterday, is really the one used by Miyamoto Musashi in his duel against Sakaki Kojiro!?" she asked, leaning so far forward on her toes Shirou had to assume she was using magic to stay upright.

Shirou nodded.

"And it really _could _control the weather and the tides?" she asked.

Shirou nodded.

"And that is how you created the cyclones. Without the use of a magic circle _or_ a spell?" she asked, her eyes shining brightly.

Shirou nodded.

"Excuse me," said the ferret tremulously. "Are…are you in possession of a large cache of Lost Logia?" he asked with a tinge of awe in his voice.

"Noble Phantasms." Shirou corrected.

The ferret's mouth fell open again.

Shirou turned back to Nanoha.

"Mister Shirou? What are…umm…Noble Phantoms?" she asked slowly.

"Oh well," he said with a smile. It was surprisingly liberating to be able to _talk_ about magecraft. "A Noble Phantasm is..."

And so, Shirou talked for quite a while, it was a rather strange feeling. As in his experience, he was usually the one in need of a lecture. His audience for their part, one listened with rapt fascination, and the other with open incredulity bordering into dread. Due to the sheer cognitive dissonance of any man having so many Lost Logia, that he not only picked and chose which to use for a particular situation, he used them as disposable one-shot weapons.


	6. Chapter 6

'Nother Saturday 'nother chapter. Recently rediscovered Fairy Tail, so I've kept that running in the background while I work on stuff.

Been having something of a really busy week, have not had the time to write. I'mma try to keep to my weekly uploads. But I may not be able to.

Not to say that there's an emergency or any of that. It's just that life happens, ya kno?

Bit of a shorter chapter this. Still, I tried to keep it entertaining while at the same time telling what I needed told. At first it was going to be longer, but the length of it got a bit unwieldy, with what is coming next and I really liked where it ended as a stopping point,. Hope you lot like it nonetheless.

If you DO like it, drop me a review and let me know. If you don't, drop me a review and let me know why.

Strategic Snippet Bomb!

Σ旦 ︵ヽ(￣Д￣)ﾉ︵ Σ旦

=][=

Amy yawned and stretched, she was beginning to fear that she'll get bags under her eyes. Three all-nighters in a row were simply too many. She groggily glared at the screen as Emiya Shirou emerged from the hotel he'd spent the night in.

That man was something of an enigma. Chances were that he had a cache of Lost Logia, one he seemed able to access at will. But he had so far done nothing for which they could detain him, so getting any detailed answers out of him would have to wait until he used them for something more reprehensible than protecting kids from lightning strikes.

She grimaced at the thought of a Lost Logia being overloaded and destroyed to halt a Lightning Shot. A powerful one yes, but he destroyed a _Lost Logia_, one that according to his own words had thousands of years of history!

That lecture he gave Nanoha had been quite informative. She wasn't entirely sure, but Amy thought that Lindy was currently trying to figure out how much of a threat he posed. A single rampant Lost Logia could put hundreds of lives in danger, and here is this man walking around with who knows how many!?

Well, Shirou probably knew. Would he tell her if she asked? He had been pretty free about offering information so far.

Amy blinked when she realized Emiya Shirou was no longer on the screen. She cast around trying to find him, to no avail. She then replayed the last minute of footage, and saw him stop at a deserted corner, a knife appeared on his hand, and he simply vanished.

She stared open mouthed at the screen. Lindy would not be happy about this.

=][=

Shirou grimaced as he ran. Carnwennan was a greater drain than he'd thought. He stole a look at the brilliant white hilt of the simple-looking dagger. It certainly had not been King Arthur's greatest weapon, it's only ability of note making him invisible and difficult to detect, yet it sapped his Od at a fast rate.

If Saber's weakest weapon sapped him this badly…It really drove home both how amazing she had been, and the fact that he had not been much of a Master. It drove home how lucky he had been to meet Arturia.

'_No regrets,'_ he thought with a forceful shake of his head to suppress the stab of pain and longing in his heart. Still fresh even after nine years. _'You can't change the past. No use dwelling on it.'_

He absently wondered if he'd gone far enough. For all he knew Lindy had not thought it necessary to keep him under surveillance. She didn't strike him as the type that would use him to find out where Fate was staying before storming the apartment, but it wasn't a chance he felt comfortable taking.

He bore the burden on his circuits until he reached the building, ran to the bathroom on the first floor, then made the weapon vanish into motes of golden light. From there he merely acted like he belonged as he went to the elevator.

Idly he wondered if he should have risked going to a supermarket. Had Fate thought to restock the fridge with supplies for lunch? It was probably unsafe for him to do it, he couldn't just use Carnwennan to remain hidden the entire time. Aside from not having enough Od for that, it's difficult to pay for groceries when you're invisible.

As he stood in front of the door, he realized with a start that he did not have the keys. He idly remembered thinking he might die or get captured, so he'd left them on the table.

There were a number of things he was expecting to happen when he knocked on the door. A shaped charge had been one of the options, perhaps one that spat lightning. What he had not expected was for Arf to pick him bodily up, march him upstairs, plop him down in front of the bed, and say. "Look! He's back! He'll make food!"

Shirou blinked. Twice.

Fate looked up from her pillow, slowly. She regarded him with a single wide, incredulous ruby eye. He absently noted she seemed to be hugging his scarf rather fiercely.

"Uhhh. Hi, I'm home?" he asked slowly.

"Sh-Shirou?" she asked tremulously.

"Hey Fate," he said with a small smile. "I forgot to buy groceries."

=][=

Fate sat at the table feeling somewhat numb. She had spent the better part of three days fantasizing about storming the Arthra to break him out, and here he was, puttering around the kitchen bemoaning the lack of groceries.

"You girls haven't eaten the lunchboxes yet?" he called from the kitchen.

Fate's breath caught in her throat.

"Nah! Fate said she hadn't felt like it!" Arf called back.

"Huh," he answered, there was a popping noise. "I think this one might have gone bad."

Fate felt the blood drain out of her face. He was certain to be mad, she'd foolishly refused t-

"Oh hey, I think the one I made for lunch is still good!" he called happily, a few seconds later she heard the microwave start. His face popped out of the kitchen door. "Hey Fate, you like broccoli right?"

She blinked. "Ummm…yes?"

"Good!" he ducked back.

Shirou was back, he didn't seem angry that part of the food he made had spoiled when she didn-

"Hey Arf, can you eat broccoli?" he asked, popping his head out of the kitchen again.

"Why couldn't I?" she asked.

"Wolves are carnivores." he said simply.

"Wolves also eat vegetables and fruit!" Arf answered, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Okay!" his head ducked back out of sight.

Slowly, Fate felt the fist that had clamped down around her heart loosen. Feeling a slight sense of wonderment at the fact that he did not seem to be angry at her.

She felt the couch shift as Arf sat down next to her with the biggest grin plastered on her face. Absently, Fate reached up to pat her familiar's head.

And then she remembered that Mother had said to bring him to her. Mother had said she needed to talk to him, Fate had to do what Mother wanted so Mother could smile again. She bit the inside of her cheek.

"Food's ready." Shirou said causing her to jump. "Sorry it's just this, I'll go buy groceries first chance I get."

He put a plate in front of her and another in front of Arf. He fetched his own plate and put another plate across from her on the low table. Fate stared at the food, broccoli beef, a side of white rice, some steamed carrots.

"You know," he said slowly, causing Fate to tense. "The food will get cold…"

Fate hugged the scarf tighter to her chest, she gathered her courage and looked up at his face, and saw him regarding the…scarf. His scarf. He probably wanted it back, he was probably angry beca-

"Should I go buy some groceries?" he asked, slowly scratching the back of his head. "I take it you don't actually like broccoli?"

Fate stared at him wide eyed.

He brought his fist up to his chin, a slight frown creasing his forehead as he began to mutter in a low voice. "Or could it be the beef? Some kids are sensitive to spices…could it be the sauce? No kids are usually receptive of the sauce because it has a fair amount of sugar…The carrots are the same as last time and she ate the broccoli before…but wait that was steamed."

"I got it!" he said, looking into her eyes with such intensity that she flinched back. "You only like steamed broccoli!"

Fate blinked, twice.

"That's why you're not eating! You don't like the broccoli because I boiled it in the sauce!" his eyes became unfocused as he descended into mutters again.

"Woah Shirou, you take cooking very seriously huh?" Arf said, then flinched back as he turned his grey-flecked amber eyes on her.

"Cooking, is serious business." he said with a surprising intensity, he then jumped to his feet. "Alright, I'll be right back. I'll just go make a grocery run an-"

"W-Wait!" Fate interrupted, her heart jumping to her throat when she realized what she'd just done. Then tremulously continued when he merely turned to regard her. "I'll…I don't…"

Shirou snapped his fingers. "You don't like it! Worry not I'll-"

"N-No! I just…" Fate took a deep breath, then resolutely put the scarf down and took a bite of the food. His stare intensified, the air had an unusually charged quality, the silence in the room seemed to thunder in her ears, until she realized that was just her heart thudding loudly in her chest.

"It's…it's tasty." she said, her voice the whisper of a mouse.

The silence remained unbroken. Slowly, she raised her head to look at him again, and saw him in the same position as before, his eyes even more intense than before.

"Maybe it _was_ the sauce?" he muttered.

"I like it!" Fate shrieked.


	7. Chapter 7

Not gonna lie, this chapter gave me some trouble. But I powered through it. Hope you lot like it.

Stuff is becoming difficult on my end. I'll try to meet the next Saturday deadline. But there's a chance I might not.

If anyone happens to know about a drafting job in the US Houston TX area. Plz lemme know over a PM. Long-shot I know but hey, you never know.

Heck I'll settle for out of state too.

I'm starting to think about holding a sign on the street and handing out resumes that way.

Getting laid off suuuuucks.

But you're not here to read about my life troubles. Here's ch 7. Where we go into one of the bigger changes I'm making to the Nanoha canon. As always, please, if you like it, lemme know in a review. If you didn't like it, drop me a review and let me know why. Them reviews are one of the few things that bring me a tad bit o' joy on these troubled days.

With that said.

Strategic snippet bomb!

(￣д￣)ㄏΣ旦

=][=

From the top of the building Shirou had an unobstructed view of the entire city. He walked calmly beside Arf as Fate hugged the scarf tighter and fidgeted. Fate had been rather tongue tied since he'd asked her to meet whoever sent her to capture the Jewel Seeds.

The way he saw it, the key to saving Fate lied with whoever had sent her to gather the Lost Logia. Lindy would probably want to be involved, but there was still the possibility that this person had a genuinely good reason for wanting the Jewel Seeds. Not to mention that if they were dangerous, then it was best to minimize the risk to others.

They stood on the roof for a few minutes while Fate stared at the ground, and Arf stared at Fate with wide, worried eyes.

Shirou walked up to Fate, who got more tense the closer he came to her. He took a knee next to her so they'd be at roughly the same height.

"Hey Fate," he said gently, causing her to flinch. "It's okay if you don't want to go. Just teleport me, I'll be fine by myself."

She whipped around so fast one of her twin-tails smacked him on the nose.

"But Shirou! I-I mean…it's just that! That person…she…she isn't…if you go there you might…" what had begun as a shout quickly lost power and volume, until she was muttering at the floor beneath her feet.

He gently put a hand on her head, causing her to flinch. She relaxed as he patted her hair.

"I'll be fine Fate, I'm a bonafide Ally of Justice." he said with a smirk. "Facing the difficult things so that kids can stay home and play with their dogs is one of my most important duties."

"Hey! I'm a wolf!" Arf said stringently, they both ignored her.

Fate remained quiet for a few moments. Seemingly enjoying the attention before she took a firm grip of his arm and held it in front of her.

"I'll go!" she said resolutely.

He smiled and nodded as Fate closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Dimensional teleport. Dimensional coordinates 876C4419…" A bright yellow magic circle appeared beneath him, he felt the hairs on his arms stand on end as the air crackled with unreleased energy. Shirou wondered idly if teleportation touched on the Second Magic, Rin had tried to explain it to him a few years back, and he'd thoroughly failed to gain anything more than a basic grasp. Maybe he should get Rin in contact with these people?

"Open, doors of luring." Fate intoned, then took another deep breath. "To the Garden of time, to the master of the Testarossas!"

Unlike the previous teleportations he'd experienced, the circle emitted a great bubble of yellow magic that enveloped them completely. He felt his hair stand on end and saw small crackles of electricity coursing through his arms. The light surged, there was a crack of thunder, and when next he could see, they were standing in an obsidian circle in front of a formation of a couple dozen massive stalagmites.

The stalagmite at the center was the thickest, a veritable obsidian pillar that stabbed up into the heavens, at its center was a massive red jewel that glittered with an unknowable ruby light. Shirou could swear it was glaring at him. Call him old-fashioned, but this looked like the quintessential evil mastermind lair, down to the massive evil eye looking at him with nefarious purpose. But he resolved himself to keep an open mind.

He looked around, and the 'horizon' was a massive swirl of dark purple and blues mixing together sickeningly. Wait, wasn't this in space? The deep lungful of somewhat stale air informed him that no, he was not asphyxiating. And while the temperature was chilly, it certainly wasn't freezing.

Oh right, dimensional sea.

Now that he thought of it, he could feel his entire skin itch, at the same time, he felt as if his entire body was coated by a thick layer of oil. He did not find the sensation at all pleasant.

He followed Fate as she walked forward to a pair of truly massive stone gates set into the biggest stalagmite. He noted that one of the doors had its own evil eye. But he reminded himself to keeping an open mind, you never know.

The doors opened on entirely silent hinges, and while he appreciated the professionalism, he could not help but feel like the gates opening on hideously squeaky hinges would fit with the oppressive 'evil lair' atmosphere that the place exuded.

The hallway beyond the doors was long and wide enough for five men to walk comfortably side by side, lined with pillars that were covered in vines, and the ceiling gave off an eerie purple glow. Fate and Arf began to walk forward, their shoulders hunching, their postures becoming more and more stiff by the step.

It was an effort of will to keep his hands from clenching, but it would not do either of the two girls any favors to see him become tense. They eventually reached the end of the annoyingly long hallway, and stepped through a pair of golden doors with another ruby at the top of an arch, which also glittered malevolently.

As they stepped through, he saw Fate shift the scarf to hide it behind her back.

The room beyond was a large oval, the floor was of a dark purple stone with a softly glowing blue crystal circle at the center. The columns at the edges were still present, but they didn't have creepers like the ones in the hallway.

And sitting at the other end of the room in a large if plan throne, was a woman. Handsome rather than beautiful, with a wild mane of black hair that fell in waves down her back.

She was dressed in an elegant black dress that exposed quite a bit of skin, and Shirou had to admit, she pulled it off well.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Fate had stopped, trembling from head to foot, her hands holding a white knuckled grip on the scarf she hid behind her.

Shirou gently patted her hair, causing her to flinch, but after a moment the tremors subsided. He then schooled his features into neutrality, curled his fingers around the grips of swords that weren't there yet, and stepped forward with a whispered.

"Trace, on."

=][=

"I am glad that Fate has finally brought you to meet me," Mother said. "I was beginning to think she would need…further persuasion."

Fate swallowed convulsively, and dropped her eyes to the floor.

"She's a dutiful girl." Shirou said, "I assure you, any lateness in this meeting was caused by me."

Fate closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing slowly, her heart thundering in her ears. She usually managed to be calm when coming to meet Mother, at least until her punishments for not meeting Mother's expectations. But the thought of Shirou finding out, or worse, suffering Mother's displeasure...

"Then what is it that you want with the Jewel Seeds?" Shirou demanded, Fate opened her eyes and looked up at him, realizing with a jump that she had missed some of the conversation. Shirou stood, straight as a pillar, his legs a shoulder's width apart and his hands slightly curled, almost as if holding something. By the frown in Mother's brows and the set of her lips, she was not happy.

The expression in Mother's face made Fate's legs turn to jelly, she had to lock her legs to keep herself upright.

"You demand to be taken into my confidence, while denying me the same courtesy." Mother said, biting off each word. "But nonetheless, I shall oblige you. I will open a conduit to Al-Hazard."

Fate's breath caught in her throat, she could not say exactly what had changed; Shirou did not move or shift his posture, but something in his demeanor abruptly screamed that he was ready for sudden violence.

"You are after the teachings of Abdul Alhazred!?" he demanded hotly.

The two of them descended into a charged silence until Mother said, "Who?"

Shirou's demeanor changed back to wary readiness. "Something that is best not spoken of. I was born in Earth; would you mind explaining what Alhazred is?"

Mother gave Fate a disgusted look, as she began explaining, Fate felt her spirits plummet to the floor. Had Mother said anything about explaining Mid-Childan beliefs to Shirou? Fate didn't think so, but…

Would Mother punish Fate again? It was likely. Fate's negligence had caused Mother an inconvenience, so she deserved it but…the thought of Shirou knowing…she bit the inside of her cheek.

Perhaps Mother would be gracious enough to wait until Shirou left?

"If you want to know more," Mother said in a cold fury, cluing Fate in on the fact that she'd lost track of the conversation again. "Then you will stop making demands."

Fate felt her head spinning, that anyone would dare make demands of Mother…

"Tell me, how many Lost Logia do you possess?" Mother demanded coldly.

She saw Shirou give a carefree shrug. "A few hundred, give or take a dozen or two."

Mother's eyes bulged.

"They're almost exclusively weapons," he continued. "But it does give me a good amount of versatility."

"Several _hundred?" _Mother asked, her voice breathy and higher pitch than Fate had ever heard it. For that matter, Fate was pretty certain her own eyes were at least as wide as Arf's.

"_Several hundred? _Do you have one that could…" Mother began in a breathy voice, before her eyes settled on Fate. Fate swallowed and lowered her gaze at the sudden spike of annoyance in Mother's face. "What say you to an alliance? I have use for someone of your…capabilities, and I've no doubt the TSAB will try to corral you. They claim dominion over any Lost Logia, they will not simply let you run free once they learn of your…stockpile."

"I've had a run-in with the TSAB," Shirou said, sounding amused. "I might be amenable to the prospect of an alliance."

Fate's breath caught at the prospect of Shirou and Mother working together, maybe if he cooked for her, Mother would smile again?

His stance shifted, crossing his arms in front of his chest almost cockily. "How would you open the portal to Al-Hazard? You must have enough Jewel Seeds for it, why haven't you?"

Mother's lips thinned, but to Fate's wonder she kept her tone neutral. "While it's true that…Fate, has managed to bring me thirteen Jewel Seeds, I would prefer to have more in order to ensure my success."

"But how would it work? Do you just cast a teleportation spell?" Shirou pressed.

Mother grunted in annoyance, when she spoke, her voice was strained. "If you must know, I will use the Jewel Seeds to create a dimensional quake. I will use the reverberations of the quake to triangulate the path to Al-Hazard!"

"And…What will happen?" he asked slowly. "Forgive me, but I am not well versed in…dimensional magic."

The corner of Mother's mouth turned down in a frown. "The reverberations of the dimensional quake should allow me to calculate coordinates to reach Al-Hazard. After that, I will use the energy of the Jewel Seeds to forge a path through the cracks in the Dimensional Sea."

"But what will happen?" Shirou repeated with intensity.

"What do you mean?" Mother ground out.

"Will the dimensional quake cause any repercussions on the planet?" Shirou asked, his voice and back tense.

"Nothing too major," Mother said, sounding bored. Her words causing Shirou to relax slightly. "It should only be a few tsunamis. Perhaps a few volcanic eruptions at particular danger zones. A few earthquakes, though I doubt the topography will change much."

"I see," Shirou said quietly, he shifted his weight, took a single step forward before he halted, then looked over his shoulder at Fate before turning back to Mother. "I need some time to think about your offer, I'll return once I've thought it over."

"No need," Mother said, causing Shirou to stiffen. "My Garden has exemplary accommodations for any and all esteemed guests."

Fate's heart skipped a beat. If Shirou stayed…perhaps if she tried really hard, he'd not hear when Mother punished her? Or maybe Mother wouldn't while there is a guest in the Garden?

"I would prefer not to impose," Shirou said.

"Nonsense, if you were serious about an alliance, you would not insult me by ignoring my offer would you?" Mother said.

Shirou's feet shifted slightly. "I'm afraid I must insist, there are other matters I-"

"Fate will escort you to your lodgings." Mother interrupted. "As a guest of the Testarossa's I personally assure you every comf-"

"I will leave," Shirou said, his back ramrod straight. "Or there will be no possibility of an alliance between us."

Mother clicked her tongue.

"Fine, if that's how you'll have it be." she said, standing. "Fate, detain him."

Fate's mind ground to a halt.

"M-M-Mother?" she stuttered, her hands clenching and unclenching on the scarf she still held.

Mother's eyes flashed angrily, Shirou was looking over his shoulder at her, his eyes somehow both hard and sad.

"Did you not hear me Fate?" Mother whispered, causing a cold shiver to travel up Fate's spine. "I told you to detain this man."

Fate looked at Arf, who looked like she was about to be sick.

"You don't have to do what she tells you to Fate," Shirou said, his voice low, causing her eyes to snap to him. "Please, leave the room, I'll…have a one-on-one talk with your mother."

Fate looked from Shirou, to Mother, then back to him.

"Fate!" Mother screamed. "I gave you an order!"

Her breath started to come in short gasps. Fate had to do as Mother said…but Shirou had cooked for her, he had looked after her wellbeing. If she attacked him now, he'd finally become angry, he'd never forgive her.

"Please Fate," Shirou whispered. "Just go wait outside, I'll-"

"Fate!" Mother screamed, her hair starting to shift about in an unfelt breeze as an aura of palpable magical energy began to exude from her body. "I am your Mother! And you will do as I say! Detain this man, immediately!"

Fate brought a hand up to her temple, her eyes burned, she bit the inside of her cheek until the taste of iron and salt filled her mouth. She could somehow salvage this, this was Fate's fault, if…if she could think of something they might still enter into an alliance. And then Mother would smile again.

"M-Mother," she said, her voice trembling. "I-"

"Fate Testarossa!" Mother's scream shook the walls of the chamber. "You will detain that man immediately! Or I will disown you!"

Fate's breath caught in her throat. A trembling began at her feet and climbed to the top of her head. She cast her eyes to the floor.

"Fate," Shirou said, his voice quiet. She looked up at him, his grey-flecked amber eyes were warm and sad, "Fate please, I can't let her do this. I don't want to hurt you. Please Fate, just wait outside."

"Fate." Mother said, sounding calm. Too calm. "I will go rest Fate, if you have not apprehended this man by the time I return. Leave, and do not bother coming back."

At some point, Fate had begun hugging the red scarf, odd, she did not remember doing that. She looked up at Shirou, who was walking toward Mother.

Letting the scarf fall to the ground was the hardest thing Fate had ever done.

"I'm sorry Shirou," Fate whispered, she flew until she was between him and Mother, Bardiche held in a white-knuckled grip. "But I will make sure Mother can smile again."

"Fate, please." Shirou said sadly, Fate wished he would scream at her, it would probably hurt less. "I don't want to do this Fate. Please, step aside."

Fate shook her head, a yellow magic circle appeared in front of her.

"Fate, you can still stop." he said gently. "You can still go back. You don't have to be an accessory to mass murder."

"_Lightning bind." _she said sadly.

As the yellow magic circle settled around Shirou's chest, Fate resigned herself to be hated by him, she'd do what she could to make sure Mother would not treat him badly.

Shirou sighed sadly.

Her spell failed, Fate blinked in confusion and Shirou was no longer there. She heard a loud _whump _and heard Arf cry out. She turned, and saw Arf bent over Shirou's leg, her eyes wide, the very next instant she vomited. Shirou dodged aside, grabbed the back of Arf's shirt and head, and spun her familiar twice before slamming her face-down on the floor. Seven swords appeared above and around him, before they drove themselves to the hilt all around her familiar.

He stood, his eyes still sad, a pair of swords, one black as night the other white as snow, appeared in his hands.

"I'm sorry Fate." he said, his eyes, both sad and disappointed, made a fist clench around her heart. "I hope you can forgive me."

And then he charged.


	8. Chapter 8

Wellp, back again. Didn't post last saturday, but the saturday before that I did specify that stuff was happening.

Well, stuff did. It's still happening and my free time at the moment is nearly nonexistent.

I'm gonna switch to a bi-weekly upload schedule. The one every two weeks, not twice a week. I just don't have much time to write at the moment.

There is also a writing contest going on that I'll be writing up an entry for. And sorry to tell you lot, that will take priority.

Anyways, yer not here to read about me complaining. No I'm not abandoning the story, no I don't know when life will back off a bit and give me some time to breathe. Yes I hope to do well in that writing contest.

Well, all that needed to be said has been stated. Here's the chaptah. Hope you lot enjoy it.

As always, do send me a review if you liked it. And if you didn't? Well you're clearly a terrible person, so be sure to drop me a review and let me know why you didn't like it.

Srsly, them reviews are sometimes the thing that re-energizes me just enough to write a few more words when I otherwise wouldn't feel like it. Plz plz plz drop me a review, I assure you I read them.

With all that said.

Strategic Snippet Bomb! ( =Д=)ノΣ旦

=][=

He was upon her in an instant.

Fate flinched and brought up Bardiche to block. She felt the impact jar her teeth, the force behind that one strike feeling like it would wrench her shoulders out of their sockets. She saw a flash of white to her left, and instinctively brought up a shield. She saw the back of the white blade rebound from the circle she'd conjured.

The black weapon sneaked around the haft of Bardiche, then Shirou pulled, causing her to stumble forward as the device was nearly wrenched from her grip. She instinctively tried to gain altitude, and felt a breeze as he drove his knee into the space she had just vacated.

He let go of the black sword to grab Bardiche in his hand, and once more heaved, she barely managed to keep her grip on her device. Fate felt as if she were being flung around like a rag doll. She saw the white sword coming again, and sent an electric discharge coursing through Bardiche.

She heard him grunt, but to her horror he did not let go. He merely withstood the shock, then raised the sword again.

_[Photon Lancer]_ said Bardiche, a single ball of crackling magical energy appeared between them and shot itself at Shirou, who was forced to let go in order to dodge out of the way.

Fate conjured several more balls and instructed Bardiche to fire them continuously at him. He ducked and weaved out of their path.

Taking advantage of the opening, Fate dove for Arf.

"Arf! Are you well!?" Fate asked with concern.

"I can't…move." Arf replied through grit teeth, coughing each word out with effort.

Fate looked at the hilts of the swords Shirou had stabbed around her familiar. Grabbed hold of one, and pulled.

She might as well have tried to shift a boulder.

As she prepared to slash at it with Bardiche's scythe form, she felt more than heard a presence behind her. On instinct, she released a pulse of thunder magic, the arm that had almost snaked its way around her neck jerked away.

She took off toward the ceiling, she had yet to actually _see_ one of his attacks, so staying close was not an option.

Before she could prepare another volley of _Photon Lancers_, she saw swords appear over his shoulder with a blue flash, they remained floating there.

"Fate!" he roared up to her. "Put up a shield!"

Fate's eyes widened, his commanding tone causing her to comply on instinct, the very next instant a sword shattered itself against the edge of the _Round Shield_ she'd conjured, the roar of its travel reaching her a moment later. The impact of that one attack traveled painfully up her arms, before she could drop the shield and move, there was a second.

Followed by a third.

And a fourth.

The swords slammed into her shield one after another, barely a heartbeat apart. After the eighth impact, her gloves tore to shreds. After the fifteenth so did her cape. Each sword slammed into the outside edges of her shield with dizzying force.

The attacks stopped, Fate lowered her numb, trembling arms. And looking down, saw Shirou had been flung face-first to the floor, his legs wrapped by glowing orange chains.

_[Scythe Form]_ Bardiche said as Fate flung herself into a dive. He rolled away from her scythe at the last instant, her attack leaving a deep gash in the stone of the floor.

Fate made to pursue him, but he raised a hand, and with a bright blue shimmer, a cage of swords appeared around her. Fate pulled up short and began to slash away at the cage. By the time Fate managed to extricate herself, so had he.

With a bright blue flash, she saw a dozen swords materialize around Arf's head, her familiar's scream of anger and frustration reassuring her that she was alright.

"Stand down Fate," he said, "I don't want to hurt you. Please, stand down."

He still sounded sad and disappointed, which made her feel a confusing mixture of sadness, and pain.

And something new. Anger.

"You could have helped!" she screamed and threw herself at him, slashing at him with wide powerful swings. Each of her attacks was dodged or parried. "You could have made Mother smile again!"

Every now and then he would retaliate, always attacking with the back of his swords. Each of his swings causing painful impacts that traveled up her arms. More than once he knocked Bardiche out of the way with one of his swords, stabbing forward with the other, only to jerk to a stop.

So she decided to abuse that. Tossing aside any notion of defense, she rushed him. He swung one of his swords at her temple, jerking to a stop when she did not defend herself. Instead, she swung Bardiche in a vertical slash across his body scoring a shallow cut across his chest. He threw himself back, then concentrated on parrying her follow up attacks.

He made a few counters, but each time he jerked to a stop when Fate made no attempt to block or dodge them.

Blood began to form a long wet patch down the leg of his pants as he concentrated fully on defense. Fate began to attack with more wild abandon, conjuring _Photon Lancers_ and firing them at him as she attacked. Swords would appear behind him and shoot themselves at her own attacks, dispersing them.

It was thanks to a lightning bind that she was able to score a second slash, cut horizontally across his chest. The bind around his ankle causing him to stumble just long enough for her attack to, once again, barely connect.

He caught her wrist on the backswing and, stepping into her guard, pulled her to his chest with one arm.

She screamed and unleashed the biggest blast of thunder magic she could conjure, into it she poured all of her anger and frustration, the helpless rage she felt when her own mother whipped her, the childish feeling of betrayal she felt when he attacked Arf, the anger she felt at herself for feeling betrayed, her confusion and feelings of inadequacy, her worry for her mother; all of it she poured into the lightning she brought into being. The thunderclap of her attack causing physical pain as it vibrated her body to the marrow. But Shirou did not let go.

So she did it again.

And again.

At some point, he had fallen to his knees, rocking her back and forth, cradling her face to the crook of his neck with one hand while the other rubbed slow gentle circles on the small of her back. Bardiche discarded on the floor as she beat her fists against his chest in useless defiance, and she howled and wept all of the tears she had been forcing herself to hold back.

He stank of sweat, ozone, cooked blood, and burnt hair. More than once she tried to push him away, to regain control of herself, but that slow gentle caress dragged more and more of her sorrow out of her.

Time passed, it could have been moments or hours, Fate was unsure. But her howls fell away to moans, and those eventually petered out into hiccups. She realized he had been whispering into her ear the entire time, apologizing over and over as she hurt him and wept. She instantly felt ashamed and mortified, she hadn't been comforted like that since…

Since ever, Fate realized. Her memories before Lynith were hazy, and even Lynith had never held her like this. She'd never needed to. Even when Lynith went away, Fate had wept alone.

"I'm sorry," she croaked, her throat a raw wound after her outpouring of emotion. "I'm so sorry."

"Shhh," he cooed. "There's nothing to forgive Fate."

"I'm sorry." she repeated, snuggling more deeply against him. There was so much she wanted to say, to apologize for, but it all clogged up at her throat until all she could do was say, "I'm so sorry."

He shifted his hold on her until he was cradled more comfortably against him, then her view over his shoulder changed as he wobbled to his feet. And he walked unsteadily as she sniffled into his shoulder, Fate absently recalled Bardiche to his standby form.

"Arf," she heard him say. "I'm going to let you up now, please don't attack me."

She turned her head to see the swords around her familiar's head, and the seven driven into the floor around her dissolve into motes of gold.

She couldn't help thinking his magic was pretty.

Arf stood up, shrinking back from the pool of sick that had been next to her. Her familiar then roughly wiped her cheeks clean of the twin trails of tears that had made their way down her face.

"I need you to take Fate somewhere safe." Shirou said. "I can't…talk with her mother and keep her safe."

Fate tried to take a fistful of his shirt, but the material was too rigid.

"Don't," she croaked.

He shushed her gently as he handed her over to Arf's arms, who took her without a word. Fate saw him, and the bottom of her stomach dropped from under her.

One of his eyebrows had been singed completely away, a jagged burn made its way across one of his cheeks, and the two cuts across his chest had been scorched.

"Can you take her somewhere safe?" he asked gently.

"Y-Yeah," Arf said with a nod.

"Why you worthless-!" screeched mother's voice across the chamber. Then many things happened in quick succession.

The air became heavy and cloying as it became oversaturated with mana, there was a vibration, something that violently shook the body but produced no audible sound. Fate saw Shirou's eyes widen as he flung one hand up and he screamed. "Rho Aias!"

A huge, luminescent pink flower bloomed into existence above them. Six petals, each longer than she was tall, wider than her arms outstretched slammed into being. The very next instant, a storm raged through the entire Garden. Jagged pillars of bright purple lightning struck the ground, the walls, even the ceiling, the entirety of the Garden of Time was engulphed in its fury.

All but the perimeter around the three of them.

Lightning stabbed ineffectually at the petals of the flower, tendrils of it swam and quested along the ground only to be rebuffed in a perfect circle around them.

The thunder of mother's attack faded, and the Garden returned to heavy, deafening silence.

When mother broke it, it was difficult to understand her past the ringing in her ears.

"I should have expected you to have a defensive Lost Logia," mother's disgusted declaration rang throughout the chamber. "This is a true blunder, no matter. Take that worthless doll and leave my Garden!"

"M-Mother?" Fate whispered, her head starting to spin.

"Be silent!" mother hissed. "And stop calling me that! A faulty tool like you does not deserve that honor!"

Fate's eyes began to prickle, but biting her cheek wasn't helping. Arf's grip on Fate tightened until she found it difficult to breathe. "How can you say that!? She's your own flesh and blood!"

Mother let out a derisive snort. "You, hoarder, take that…thing, as my peace offering. I'm sure you'll find use for it."

"I'm not leaving," Shirou stated softly. "I will not let you commit the atrocity you want to."

"Then you're a fool."

Fate's breaths came in short panicked gasps, this could not be happening. Maybe she could convince mother to punish her less harshly? Maybe if she got the last eight Jewel Seeds away from the TSAB? Maybe she could convince Shirou to help mother after all?

"M-Mother? Please-" Fate did not know what exactly she was going to say, how she would convince her mother to listen. She was not given a chance to find out.

"You are no daughter of mine, begone, you misbegotten…_thing,"_ mother said before ending the spell.

She recalled her mother laying a crown of flowers on her head.

She recalled her mother whipping her for not meeting her expectations.

Fate clutched her head in a futile effort to make the world stop spinning. She couldn't breathe right, there were the sounds of crashing all around her, Arf began to move violently, but she barely noticed. She couldn't breathe, the walls were pressing in around her, suffocating her, the world kept spinning dizzily.

It was too much, far too much. Too much to process, too much to believe. She couldn't breathe. So she did the only thing she could to protect herself, and sank into blissful unconsciousness.


	9. Chapter 9

Bit late, but I was out of town and got home pretty late.

Bloody exhausted lemme tell ya. Almost didn't manage to write for this at all.

Been pouring words down on something else tho. Not entirely sure if I'll post that. Maybe I will.

Anyways. Here's this chapter. Hope you lot enjoy it. If you do enjoy it, toss me a review and let me know why. If you don't enjoy it. Well you're a bad person, but toss me a review and let me know what I did wrong.

Above all things. Gimme review! GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME!

I'd put on an emoji, but I'm too tired.

Strategic Snippet Bomb!

=][=

Shirou stumbled past the gate, stamping down on his worry over Fate's fugue state. She'd never get a chance to recover if he didn't get her out of this place. And Arf couldn't teleport except on the landing pad. So getting them to safety would normally not take too much time or effort.

The huge magical mechs coming out of the walls were complicating matters.

The black keys used by that scary blue-haired executor, in that one Dead Apostle hunt he'd had with her, had served him quite well over the years. Yes his copies weren't as good, which is why he made up for that with quantity.

However, there were too many mechs. If he froze all of them, he'd not have enough od left to stop Precia.

He threw a pair of Kansho and Bakuya at a magic mech as it stepped out of the wall in front of him. They sank in its chest to the hilt, causing it to stagger. But it did not go down, so he skidded to a halt.

Taking this thing on would no usually be at issue. But with the lightning strikes Fate had thrown at him…his entire body felt like a burnt wound.

The sounds of crashes and clanks behind him informed him that, no, he certainly wasn't lucky enough for these things to stop chasing him simply because he ran off.

"Arf," he said, causing the wolf-eared familiar to look up from trying to get Fate to talk. "I'm about to carve a path. Be ready to run."

She nodded, Shirou took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"**I am the bone of my sword," **he intoned, his senses sharpened, his body became denser.

"**Steel is my body, and fire my blood," **reality itself thinned, veins stood out on his neck and forehead.

"**I will create thousands of blades,"** his skin rippled as something in his entire body shifted, something distended his skin from within it, pushing against it, like hundreds of toothpicks trying to push out of his chest, arms, and legs. Emotion became a distant thing, pain fled, the stiffness of his muscles became a memory, a pain remembered rather than endured.

He tilted his head left and right, the grinding of metal on metal reverberated from his neck.

He opened his eyes, the mech was reading to swing its massive halberd down at him. He raised an arm, reading to block with a weapon that wasn't there yet.

On his hand appeared a sword that was not a sword, it was too big, too heavy, and much too rough. It was a hunk of crudely carved marble. A nameless tool that barely deserved to be called a weapon, its 'handle' was a hole worn smooth by use, so large that his hand could barely grip it. It had no history, no fame, no legend.

But for a short while, it had been wielded by Herakles himself.

The weapon cared not for defense. The closest notion to self-preservation within it was to toss out its own overwhelming attack.

In the split second between the mech raising its halberd and starting to swing it down. The axe-sword tore its legs off at the knees, shattered its chest, removed its weapon arm at the shoulder, and stabbed out and obliterated its head.

Each attack had been reckless, full of openings, unplanned. To call that combination a 'technique' would be charitable in the extreme. They were, at best, uncontrolled swings.

But each of them was delivered in an infinitesimal fraction of the time it takes to blink.

"Arf!" he growled through bloodlust not his own. "Don't fall behind!"

Arf's face was white as a sheet, fear painted starkly on her features. She nodded numbly and followed him, sprinting to keep up.

Not a single mech lasted more than a third of a second against him. Not a single mech needed more than two strikes to destroy it. Not a single mech received less than five.

In mere moments they were at the landing pad.

He turned to Arf. She flinched away from him.

He stepped up to her, each step accompanied by the squeal of tortured metal. She turned Fate away from him and hunched over her, trembling from head to foot. Putting her back between him and her little master.

Shirou stopped, the weapon in his hand demanding her blood. He closed his eyes and forced the foreign bloodlust down.

He took his scarf off, having picked it up as he ran out of Precia's audience chamber. And gently wrapped it around Arf's neck.

She squealed and hunched tighter over Fate.

"Give her that when she wakes up," he said as gently as he could, his voice had an odd hollowness to it, whistling through his throat. "I feel she is going to need you Arf, don't leave her side."

He turned back to face the entrance, littered by the ruined wrecks of a number of shattered mechs.

"Shirou," Arf said tremulously.

Shirou turned to look at her.

"I ahh…" she said. "Umm, th-thank you, for not hurting her."

Shirou blinked. "Why ever would I hurt her?"

Arf stared at him wide eyed. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

And then, in a bright flash of orange, she was gone.

Shirou turned back to the entrance. It took him twenty minutes to find Precia. She was at the very bottom of this 'Garden' as Fate had called it. Not much of a garden though, it was barren, formed of massive, jagged stalagmites. She was surrounded by thirteen floating crystal ovals which orbited around her, an intricate magic circle pulsating beneath them. She stood next to a floating pod with a smaller Fate suspended in liquid inside it.

Shirou blinked. And used Structural Analysis on it.

It was a preservation tube, it held within it the perfectly preserved corpse of Alicia Testarossa. And he really did mean perfect, as long as the tube had access to a miniscule amount of mana, the corpse within it was held in near perfect stasis.

_'So that's what she meant when she called Fate a doll,' _he thought in awe. _'Fate is a homunculus.'_

But not _just_ a homunculus. All of the homunculi Shirou had seen were imperfect. _Something_ was always off, something about them touching upon the Uncanny Valley with a feather light touch. Illya could probably have been a perfect human, had the Einzberns not made her into a Grail.

But that is not what Fate was. Fate was a genuine human being, not once in the time he spent with her did he get that slight reaction of instinctive revulsion, of wariness and mistrust. Fate was a perfect replica of the little girl in the tube. He idly wondered if Precia had achieved some facet of the Third, or if Fate had generated her own soul.

He vowed that whatever happened, the magi of Earth would _never_ learn of her.

…

Maybe Rin and Luvia.

He dismissed the axe-sword, if he used it, chances were high Precia would die. He felt the ground beneath him start to shake, so he traced Rule Breaker over his shoulder, and fired it off like a bullet at the pulsating magic circle. It dissipated without even a flicker, and the shaking died off.

Precia produced an…interesting sound.

"I told you!" he called out to her. "I would not allow you to commit the atrocity you wanted."

Her face scrunched into a rictus snarl as she looked at him, gone was the cool, collected beauty he had at first seen.

"You!" she snarled, and the magic circle appeared beneath the jewel seeds again. "I will not let you stop me! I will get my daughter back!"

Shirou calmly made another Rule Breaker as he walked, and fired it into the circle. Dissipating it.

"You had a daughter," he said. "You disowned and discarded her."

"That thing was not my daughter!" she screeched. "That thing was not my Alicia!"

She raised a hand, and Shirou threw himself to the side. The air rippled where he had been standing, as if heat had somehow been made solid, and the floor where he had been standing exploded into a cloud of dust.

The magic circle appeared around the Jewel Seeds again.

Again, Rule Breaker dissipated it.

"I will not let you take my daughter from me!" she screamed and fired off more blasts of solid heat. Shirou retreated behind the stalagmites.

He used them as cover to get closer, peeking out, he saw that Precia had called that magic circle back into place. She was facing away from him.

So he charged out from his cover, tracing Kansho and Bakuya he swung the back of the blades at the back of Precia's head.

And the swords were rebuffed by an invisible force field that flashed purple for a moment.

Precia gasped and turned around, stumbling. In that short time, Shirou had stabbed both blades through the force field and had pried open a head-sized hole through it.

Precia raised her hand, and Shirou let go of the swords and threw himself to the side, but not quickly enough. The edge of Precia's spell caught him on the side and sent him careening into the base of a stalagmite, pushing him partially into it.

He pried himself out of it and moved, a second lance of solid heat slamming into the place he'd just vacated with a roar.

He ran in a large circle around Precia, dodging several more blasts before ducking behind another stalagmite. But not before sending another copy of Rule Breaker into the magic circle, dissipating it again. Precia's enraged screech reverberating through the chamber.

As Precia sent blast after blast into the other side of the stalagmite, Shirou furrowed his brow in thought. Kansho and Bakuya would take too long to pry open a hole in the force field.

Gáe Dearg would pierce right through it, but it would also tear right through her, and Shirou didn't have any medical supplies to patch her up with. Cutting the field with the blade of the spear would not work either, the field would simply reform around it.

The axe-sword would pummel through it, but it was a tossup on whether or not Shirou would be able to stop it from crushing her.

Shirou's leg felt wet. He blinked and looked down, only to see his pants wet with his blood. He looked at where the blast had grazed him, and was met with gleaming, wet metal. Thousands of interlocking blades in the form of the musculature of his abdomen.

That graze had blasted away his armor and the skin beneath it.

He couldn't dally any longer, blood loss would slow him and eventually end him. And there was no guarantee that Lindy would find this place after he collapsed, but before Precia released the quake.

Right as he thought that, the entire Garden began to shake. He didn't know how much time he had, and he didn't have a lot of od left. He'd likely only get one more try.

Shirou closed his eyes and looked into his inner world, looking frantically through it at the numberless weapons. Looking for one that would allow him to resolve the situation without killing Precia.

The glint of a gemstone caught his eye, and he knew he'd fund his answer.

With a flash of blue light, Shirou was holding a splendid sword, its cross guard was gold and black, its grip made of black leather, its pummel adorned with a clear gemstone that shone with a soft golden light.

Durandal: The Peerless Sword.

"By the Power of the Lord, this blade shall shatter all barriers." he intoned, part of the gemstone's glow transferred to the blade.

"By the Might of the Lord, this blade shall sunder all armor," he intoned, the gem dimmed further, the sword's glow became painful to look at.

"By the Mercy of the Lord, this blade shall not claim a life," he intoned, the glow of the gem dimmed completely, the edge began to glow with a soft blue light.

Shirou closed his eyes, took a deep breath, reinforced his body to the limits of its endurance, and charged out of his cover.

Precia had been waiting. She fired off another blast the moment she saw a flicker of movement. But by the time she reacted, Shirou was long gone.

He was two-thirds of the way to her before she realized her attack had missed. He was mere feet away when she managed to level the palm of her hand at him.

Shirou slammed his foot down with such force the stone beneath it shattered into a spider web of cracks. He twisted his back and hips, and swung the sword with such force that the air screamed in seeming pain at its passing.

The barrier flickered purple for an instant before being sundered. A secondary barrier over her skin flickered into being, and immediately collapsed like a pricked bubble. The edge of the Peerless Blade slammed into Precia's temple with all the elegance and subtlety of a sledgehammer.

The edge cut through her hair, parted her skin, sliced through her muscle and bone. Then there was a flash of silver and blue, and the ring of steel striking stone.

The sword was rebuffed, Precia's head was smashed to the side. She staggered several steps, blood pouring from a wound so deep it came a hair's breadth from exposing her brain, the very seat of the soul, to the air.

She fell to her knees, still trying to aim, trying to scream, trying to fight. Using every once of her will to deny unconsciousness.

"Alicia," she mumbled, and folded to the floor, her hand grasping blindly. "Alicia."

Shirou stepped on her wrist, her carpals crackling from the pressure.

Her eyes focused enough to look up, to find him, to hate him. Shirou had expected her to pass out, but she visibly poured every iota of her strength into speaking, her words dripping with scorn. "You. Will. Kill. My. Daughter."

Shirou looked down at her, pity swelling within him. Try as he might be could not fault her, she who was willing to wade through an ocean of blood to get her daughter back.

He could not fault her. But he also could not forgive her.

"The girl in the tube died years ago." he said, his voice cold and final as he raised Durandal over his head. Precia made a mewling noise, trying to deny him, but he continued relentlessly. "You made a new daughter, a perfect and beautiful little girl. A dutiful girl who would kill herself to try and make you happy. And repaid her love with scorn and pain. I will not kill your daughter, Mrs. Testarossa, I will save her from you."

He brought Durandal down, and even Precia's prodigious will was not enough to stave off unconsciousness.

Shirou turned and walked towards the magic circle, letting Durandal fade into golden motes. Now that Precia was down, adrenaline fled him. The sound of grinding metal faded, the mass of small swords fading away and being reabsorbed into his body.

Pain retuned next, his entire side screamed in burning agony. With his body of swords gone, there was nothing between the pain and him other than his will.

He needed Rule Breaker, but he was running beyond empty, he didn't have the strength left to fire it.

The Garden heaved and sent him to his knees. Really wishing for a little more adrenaline, but even that seemed to have run out. So he did as he had often done before when he could no longer walk.

He crawled.

He left a red trail behind him as he dragged himself. The circle was a few scant meters away from where Precia had fallen, but it felt like kilometers.

Finally, after an eternity, his fingers were just able to brush the magic circle. As he brought up the blueprint for Rule Breaker, he wondered idly if he was about to die.

It seemed likely…but it didn't fit. An echo of words spoken to him in an Apostle Hunt flitted across his mind.

"I do not die today." he mumbled, raised his arm, and traced Rule Breaker.

The feedback of tracing the weapon while his life force flickered and dimmed slammed into him. He felt a fist crush his heart, blood welled up into his throat.

His arm fell, the very tip of Rule Breaker cut into the magic circle. And his vision went dark.


	10. Chapter 10

Wellp. Another Saturday another chapter.

Sorry about the really late upload. Just got off a 13 hour shift at my in-between jobs job.

Tough things them 13 hour shifts. _Shivers._

And lemme tell ya. I had a _coupla weeks_. I was able to find a drafting job! I start monday. It'll be nice to have things stable again. Mind you, this won't really change my available time to write. As the time I spent job searching and eking out some income will instead be spent working.

I became a full-on United Statesican. For those of you who were unaware, I'm Mexican. Spent the last forever and a half becoming a US citizen. Finally managed it. Bring out the beers, cheeseburgers, and something about bald eagles.

Neither of those are actually any important for anyone but me. But eh, I feel like celebrating!

And to think. I still found time to write!

Aight so. I'mma be level with yall. I don't have much to say, there will be an author's note at the bottom all bolded. The few things of substance I gotta say will be said there. Feel free to skip until you see the scene transition icon. Which for reference is this =][=

Feel free to skip until then. The text wall you see here is me bitching about fanon.

Strategic Snippet Bomb! ( Д)ノΣ旦

Now, I don't usually do this. But my Beast Lair's jimmies have been ruffled. So I'm gonna take the time to drop down some Fate canon knowledge down on everyone! Because I can!

There is a fanon going around for quite a while now that Shirou needs to use Reinforcement to pick up and swing his heavier NPs, such as the nameless axe-sword. This is incorrect, as long as the weapon has a history to it, his body will recreate the strength, speed, and toughness needed to swing it. As well as some of the techniques within the NP, to the point that he can use their ultimate ability. Such as Caladbolg, Hruntig, and Nine-Lives Bladeworks. Why this is could be debated, maybe it's because one of the steps of his unique brand of magecraft is 'sympathizing with the experience of its growth' or maybe because his Origin and Element are both 'Sword.' The only thing we know for sure however, is that he can, happened in HF with Archer's arm. Also happened in UBW during his fight against Archer. It even happened in Fate route, when he used Caliburn to _rebuff an attack by Herkzerker!_ And there was no mention in any of those occasions that he was using Reinforcement, therefore we must assume it came from the weapons themselves.

Another (far more personally annoying) fanon is the idea that Shirou has 'shitty' magic circuits, or that they 'atrophied.' Neither of these is true…well one of them _partially_ is. His circuits are shitty compared to _Tohsaka Mofoing Rin's_, an nth generation magus whose family has selectively bred to be the best magi they can possibly be! Not only that, but she is literally a golden egg! One of them geniuses with strength, intellect, natural ability, and Element and Origin that you can only hope to get once every few generations! Compared to Rin's, Shirou's 27 (which is 7 circuits above the average) first-generation (meaning not cultivated for centuries through selective breeding) magic circuits _are _all shitty.

Also, circuits do not atrophy. There is no canon mention of that _anywhere _whatsoever. As far as I can tell, that particular bit of fanon comes from Gabriel Blessings. Who was notorious in Beast's Lair back in the day for getting _some _lore stuff right, and a lot more of it _incredibly _wrong. (Mind you, I really liked Hill of Swords, disregarding his characterization of Shirou. And the first few chapters of In-Flight before he showed he had no idea how to characterize Shirou without turning him into Archer or Kiritsugu. But I digress). Shirou could have unlocked his circuits when he was an old and decrepit man and they would be just as efficient as when he was a teenager.

So yes, Shirou is limited in his mana capacity because he isn't a selectively bred super magus with a pedigree going back centuries. But he is immensely efficient at the _one_ thing he knows how to do. Because as long as he is making something flat, sharp, and is overall an implement for slashy and/or stabby activities, he gets an _immense_ discount on prana to bring them to being and activate them.

While I'm on a role. Shirou doesn't have a scar on his chest and back from Gae Bolg. The argument could be made that he has a scar _on_ the heart, as in the organ itself. Because of a line in the VN directly after he wakes up where he talks about how it feels his heart is about to split open. But the only evidence there is of something wrong is the arterial blood on his clothes and on the floor. As far as I can tell, this also came from Gabriel Blessings.

Final bit of fanon anger. Shirou being bad with tech. For crying out loud he likens magic to computers, fixes electronics, and works as a mechanic for a _bike!_ He isn't bad at tech! If anything he's entirely _normal_ at tech! Maybe even kind of good at tech! Rin is the one that can't handle a dvd player without exploding the tv! (As far as I can tell, this also comes from... You guessed it, Gabriel Blessings)

And before anyone goes and tells me 'but the wiki says,' it ain't valid unless the wiki also posts a source _and_ you can point to the specific place in the source that backs up the claim. Wiki's can be edited by anyone.

With that rant out of the way. My elitist Beast Lair's ruffled jimmies have been addressed.

=][=

Emiya Shirou opened his eyes slowly. He blinked owlishly at an unfamiliar ceiling, not unusual that. He'd done that a lot in the nine or so years since the Grail War. Slowly he began the familiar process of taking stock of his injuries.

He felt sore everywhere, and there were numb patches through his body, but it was the good type of numb. The numb that told him that feeling would return. There were places across his body where feeling never had. In particular there was one big patch of numbness on his lower abdomen, where he had expected to feel…searing agony? It usually hurts a lot when a lot of skin is blasted away.

Subtly, he shifted his extremities slightly, testing for pain. If he recalled correctly he should have some electrical burns. But all he felt was the ghost of discomfort. Strangely enough, he could feel something binding his wrists and ankles to the frame of the bed he was resting on. Had he suffered from seizures again?

He raised his head and looked around, and realized a few things. Chief among them, it seemed he was back in the Arthras' quite well equipped magical infirmary, that bounded field to keep him locked in was active, that dark-haired chief medical officer was sleeping next to her laptop.

And both Fate and Arf were asleep at the foot of the bed. Half-sitting awkwardly on chairs next to the bed. They were both wearing a set of light blue scrubs.

He had the inkling that it might be important to let someone know he was awake but…well Fate and Arf looked somewhat comfortable, and the doctor looked exhausted. The thought of waking them up was just…inconceivable, maybe if he had breakfast ready, but strapped as he was into the bed…

Speaking of which, he rather needed to use the restroom. But again, the doctor looked like she really needed the sleep. Besides, these were regular restraints, Shirou wasn't the best at Alteration but he should be able to fix them after he broke them.

Subtly, he reinforced the restraints, they became strong as steel manacles, and then they snapped with a muted 'pop!'

Arf and Fate stirred, mumbled, then settled again. Carefully, oh so carefully, he shrugged out from under the sheets. He didn't see his clothes anywhere, so he projected some pants and carefully put them on.

He couldn't help but feel he was forgetting something, but the pressure in his groin was getting uncomfortable, so with a shrug, he jumped off the bed.

The shrill alarm slammed the doctor, Fate and Arf into wakefulness.

"Shirou!" screamed Fate and Arf, looking at first panicked then relieved when they saw him standing next to the bed.

The doctor jumped to her feet, her eyes wide, then narrowing angrily when she caught sight of him.

"What are you doing up!?" she demanded shrilly.

He was about to answer when the door swished open, and a full squad of Arthras mages marched in, aiming their weapons at him.

Fate and Arf jumped in front of him, Arf's back arched like a dog with its hackles raised.

The doctor turned and started shouting at _them. _And at the squad for good measure.

And all through it, the bed's alarm screamed on.

Shirou sighed and hopped back on the bed. The alarm stopped, the bed beeped twice, and fell quiet.

The sudden cessation of noise confused everyone enough to drive them to momentary silence. Everyone looked at everyone else, a charged quality to the air that could only be felt when a group of people were seconds away from violence.

"Look guys," Shirou said, sheepishly raising an arm. "My bad, I'll own up to it. I could've been a bit more attentive, I apologize for giving everyone a scare but uhh."

He shifted in his seat, he felt his cheeks warming slightly. "It's embarrassing to say but I _really_ need to use the restroom."

=][=

Fate clung tighter to Shirou's pant leg. And she was rewarded by his hand absently falling to the top of her head and gently ruffling her hair. She still flinched slightly, for which she felt somewhat guilty, but relaxed immediately after.

He had just finished giving his report to Lindy, and he'd outright lied to them. Making mother out to be the devil and Fate an unwilling accomplice. He'd also told them that his electrical burns came from mother, claiming that she had changed sides when she'd learned what her mother's plans were. That Arf and her had been injured in the fight and that's why they'd retreated.

Mother had fallen into a coma after Shirou's fight against her. Fate buried her face on his pant leg and failed to stop tears from flowing. Once more, seemingly absently, Shirou picked Fate up and pressed her face to the crook of his neck, where she proceeded to quietly dampen the shirt he was wearing.

It wasn't fair, she was glad that Shirou had managed to stop mother, and from what Arf had told her, he would have had a much easier time killing mother than taking her alive. But it wasn't fair that she couldn't talk to mother, to try and make her change her mind, to show mother how much she loved her.

"Well Mr. Emiya," Lindy said. "I am thankful that you were able to stop Precia from causing a dimensional quake. However, I cannot condone your recklessness, this was a TSAB issue. You should have come to us when you learned of her location rather than try to tackle the issue on your own."

She felt Shirou shrug. "Honestly, I was somewhat making it up as I went along. But I did feel it was better to minimize the risk to others."

"That's vigilantism Mr. Emiya." Lindy said with a defeated sigh, it wasn't the first time she had brought that up.

Quiet stretched between them.

"What will happen with Fate now?" Shirou asked, and she couldn't stop herself from tensing. He began to pat her back as if she were a child. The most demeaning thing was it worked and she felt herself relaxing. Lindy remained quiet for a long time before speaking.

"Though the young lady had her reasons, and though she was ignorant of it at the time. It is an undeniable fact that she was part of a conspiracy to cause a catastrophic dimensional quake. One that would have impacted the Dimensional Sea for years to come, and likely severely damaged several inhabited planets." Lindy took a deep breath. "I will not sugarcoat it Mr. Emiya, Ms. Testarossa. This conspiracy is a terrible crime, the usual sentence for it is life imprisonment."

Fate felt Shirou's shoulder transform from a warm pillow into marble.

"However," Lindy continued after a few moments. "I can see that her circumstances were…not ideal. And as you've stated, she is as much a victim as any who would have been affected by the quake. It's clear to me that she was an unwitting accomplice, this will serve to mitigate her sentence. Contrary to what some may say, the TSAB is not in the habit of pinning crimes on a child who was unaware of the damage her actions would cause.

"It will, however, take some time. The situation is a mess, and Precia's base of operations will take quite a while to be properly investigated. But I am confident that her case will be properly handled, and her punishment will be appropriate."

"I see," Shirou said.

"I assume Mr. Emiya that you'd like us to return you to Earth?" Lindy asked.

Fate tensed, never had she so much as considered that Shirou might leave her. Her troubles were not his business after all, what reason would he have to stay now that he'd stopped mother? She began to tremble, her hands closing into fists on his shirt. She wanted to tell him not to leave her, to demand that he stay with her.

She looked up, at the jagged, electric scar that ran from his cheek, down his neck, and disappeared into his chest.

What right did she have to demand anything of him?

"About that Mrs. Harlown," Shirou said, the tension in his body not at all reflecting in his tone. "I wanted to ask you if it would be okay with me to accompany Fate? I do feel somewhat responsible for her wellbeing, and I would like to aid her in any way I can in the coming trials."

"Such would be unusual Mr. Emiya," Lindy said after a long pause. "And just so you are aware, if you do come with us, you'll have to answer to charges of vigilantism."

"I am okay with that," Shirou said.

"Then yes, Mr. Emiya. I do have the authority to grant you passage in the Arthras." Lindy said.

"Good!" Shirou said. "Now, if I may also ask for a favor?"

Lindy didn't say anything, but since Shirou continued talking, Fate assumed that she had nodded. "Is Nanoha around? I have a feeling that Fate and her should probably have a talk."

=][=

Shirou was surprised by how quickly the crew of the Arthras had readied everything. Lindy had even been gracious enough to allow Fate down to Earth to say her goodbyes to Nanoha. Their talk had been somewhat subdued, and both Arf and Fate had ended up crying into both of his shoulders, but Fate was surprisingly strong willed for a nine year old. And she seemed more than willing to own up to her involvement in Precia's conspiracy.

Fate and her familiar were currently resting in Fate's quarters. Lindy had allowed for Fate to travel in relative luxury pending on good conduct as a favor to Shirou, as thanks for helping her resolve the Jewel Seed situation and promising to allow TSAB eggheads to scan some of his 'Lost Logia.'

Shirou was currently in the Arthras' expansive bridge, listening to the crew readying the ship for departure.

"Excuse me Mr. Shirou," said Amy, a bubbly officer who Shirou had been shocked to learn was 16 years old. As it turned out, the TSAB was quite willing to put talent before seniority. "It's been pretty nonstop but…now that I think about it, you kind of involved yourself in the incident somewhat out of nowhere. And by your own admission, you were unaware of the Jewel Seeds or their capabilities. If you don't mind my asking. Why were you in Uminari?"

Shirou blinked and failed to notice everyone on the bridge paying a lot of attention to his conversation. "Ah, well I was actually stopping for the day before moving on."

"Ah so it was a transit stop?" Amy asked.

"Yes." Shirou said.

"Where were you going?" Amy asked after it became clear Shirou was not going to continue.

"Ah, I was visiting my home for the first time in six years." he said easily.

Activity in the bridge stopped for a full five seconds before resuming.

"Mr. Emiya," Lindy said, her voice strained. "We truly are in no hurry. And once we set out, we will not be able to return for several months. If you would like to have a few days to see to your business…"

"Ah no, that won't be necessary," Shirou said to her with a smile, before turning to peek curiously into a screen. "There is no one waiting for me at home."

For a second time, work in the bridge stopped for several seconds before starting up again.

It wasn't long before Shirou asked if it would be okay for him to work as a cook.

**X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X****-X**

**And so we come to the end of the first 'arc' of Fateful Distractions. I have a few more things planned for this here fic, so it's not yet finished. But I need to storyboard them, research some stuff, write drafts, fix the drafts. Etc etc etc.**

**Next up for Fateful Distractions would be a few interludes bridging the gap between the end of Arc 1 and the start of Arc 2. And yes, the detectives among you may assume Arc 2 will take place during the "Aces" arc of Nanoha. But there is **_one other_** thing of note that will happen at around the stated time in the fic! Which will complicate things iiiiiiiiiimmensely.**

**I was surprised to see this fic gain a sizable following. And I'll admit it warmed the scarred, calcified lump of grit and callus I call a heart. I won't drop this here fic, tha's a promise. But I'mma move on to other stuff for a while. There's two things I've got on the back burner. I'mma work on those for a while.**

**I spend way too much time on this. But it scratches an itch, ya kno?**

**Was kinda a short chapter, but the climax was last chapter anyways.**

**If you liked it, glad you enjoyed. Please drop me a review.**

**If you didn't like it...uhh...I mean...ch 1 was 10 chapters ago...drop me a review anyways.**

**And I'll hopefully see at least _some_ of you on my next project! Cya then!**


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